Child's Play
by callmeordinary
Summary: It was a simple game with simple rules; don't let the bad guys win, and certainly don't join their ranks. There wasn't even enough directions to illustrate a cop-themed picture book. But, she didn't mind the lack of rules. It made being a player a hell-of-a-lot easier for her. She just wished she wasn't chosen to be team captain. ModernAU. Zelinkk. Cops&Robbers.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: If I had a fairy godmother, maybe.

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**Child's Play**

She decided that she didn't like the color blue.

To clarify; she _hated _the color blue.

The waiting room had completely ruined the color for her. Everything, from the walls, to the couches, to the stiff plastic chair she had been sitting in for hours, was coated in the same shade of washed-out blue. Even the glossy health magazines on the tables were blue. The furniture and décor wasn't bad on its own, but she thought that the room would have been a little more bearable if they hadn't chosen such a depressing color to be the main accent. It reminded her of when her mother washed her jeans too much – the color had almost been completely sucked out, leaving only a subtle hint of blue that could only remind you of what it once was.

When her father first told her to wait in the room, her nose wrinkled in distaste as soon as she set her eyes on the walls. She tried to tell him that she didn't want to wait in here, but he was already out the big white doors before she could finish her sentence. So, she did what her father asked. She waited. She waited so long in that blue-gray room that the color of it seemed to burn itself into her retinas, making her feels dizzy just from looking at it.

Feeling sick, she glanced at the door.

She honestly didn't know how long she had been waiting there. She had lost count after three hours; counting in the hundreds was still somewhat of a mystery to her. She didn't even bother with the clock that ticked high up on the wall. Her knowledge of reading time was just as spotty as her counting. Her teacher wasn't very good at explaining the mechanics of numbers to her, and she really wished that she had asked her mother to teach her. It sure would've come in handy for her now. She continued to fiddle with a loose string on the hem of her dress, dropping her head down to her lap with defeat. She wished she had brought a book with her; it would have made things a lot more tolerable.

Even though there weren't any windows to look out of in the room, she knew it was pouring outside. Raindrops slammed against the walls relentlessly, and she could hear the sound of heavy rain splatter against the roof. It hadn't been raining when her and her father drove over, so she deduced that it must've been building up all day if it was raining that hard outside. The storm outside wasn't exactly soothing for her, but she couldn't really complain about the sound. It made her feel less alone – like there was something other than her shoes tapping on the floor that could make noise. She really wished she wasn't the only one in there.

She glanced at the door again.

This time she felt her neck crack at the motion, finally feeling the effects of keeping her head low for the majority of her wait. She rubbed it idly, chancing her queasiness as she looked around the room. The blue seemed to suck her in full force the moment she looked up. How long had she been staring at her lap? It didn't seem like it could've been that long, but she couldn't be sure; the loose string on her skirt had been pretty interesting. She must have been looking at her lap for a long time if the wall color was hitting her this hard. Luckily, the ache in her neck seemed to be going away. She turned her head side to side – eyes closed to avoid the blue – to ease the pain when an idea popped into her mind.

A little walk around the halls couldn't be too bad, right? She'd be right back; it would be like she hadn't even left. She nibbled on her bottom lip as she stared longingly at the door. No, she shouldn't. Her father wouldn't like it. He would probably scold her for leaving the little blue chair she had been ordered to sit in. But then again, a little voice nagged, _he _wasn't the one who had been waiting for hours, completely alone in a near-silent room. A teensy, tiny walk would be an ample reward for being so patient. So why not go?

Feeling her resolve chipping, the little girl gingerly flattened her feet against the tile and stood up. The chair squeaked from the loss of weight, and she cringed at the sound. Goddesses, it was so quiet in there. The idea of a walk to escape the silent room seemed all the more enticing. She started tip-toeing towards the door.

She was about the twist the doorknob – ready for sweet relief from the blue walls - when a series of muffled voices outside the door made her pause. Their voices were barely audible, but she was sure that she could hear what they were saying if she cupped her ear to the door. She half-thought about doing it too, until the voices got a little bit louder.

A wave of panic rolled through her when she recognized her father as one of the two voices. Was he here to scold her? Probably; her father seemed to always know when she was misbehaving, although she debated whether or not going on a little walk could really be called 'troublemaking'. Still, it didn't lessen the urge to bolt back to her seat and pretend nothing had happened. She made a move to turn around, but her feet seemed to be cemented in front of the waiting room's doors.

A nagging feeling in her gut told her to find out what they were talking about. It seemed serious enough, if they were using such hushed tones. She frowned, not wanting to get into any more trouble, but it didn't stop her curiosity. She cupped her ear to the door, leaning against it until the voices came in clearly.

"-the doctor's are saying they're running out of options. She's too weak for chemo, and the new medicine they put her on last week doesn't seem to be working."

A frustrated sigh; she could practically see her father running his hand through his hair. He sighed like that a lot when he was on business calls. "Is there really nothing else we can do?"

"Other than placing her in hospice and waiting it out, no," the other man said grimly.

There was a small pause where the two speakers seemed to be mulling over the current conversation. She wondered what 'hospice' was. Maybe she'd ask her mother when she saw her.

"Finest medical team in Hyrule, huh?" her father mumbled. "Two years with Madeline and her condition hasn't improved at all. If anything, she's just gotten worse. When I get home..." her father trailed off threateningly.

"Daphnes, you can't blame the doctor's. They've been trying their hardest to-"

"_My wife wouldn't be dying if they were 'trying their hardest'." _

Her father's words sent ice down her spine. Her mother was dying? No, she thought, shaking her head. Her mother was too strong to die. She was the strongest person that she knew, and she fully believed that whatever was making her mother sick would be beaten soon. It was only logical that her mother made a full recovery. The last time she had seen her over two months ago her mother seemed fine to her, if not a little weak. Surely she wasn't _dying._

"Look," her father started quietly, "I'm extremely grateful for everything this hospital has done for me and my family, but I just can't accept the excuse that there's nothing left for us to try."

"I have looked over your wife's case with her medical team, and the only options I've found left for her are too aggressive and will only worsen her condition. A treatment plan with a 5% chance of actually working should be the least of your worries right now, Daphnes, and you know I'm right."

Another sigh; her father sounded more defeated this time.

"You and your daughter only have so much time left with your wife," the other man continued softly, "and I encourage you to spend as much of that time with each other without any distractions."

"There has to be _something_, I can't just drop all of this on my daughter-"

"You haven't told her, have you." It wasn't a question, it was an accusation.

Zelda shifted her weight, flattening her ear against the door as another paused ensued. Told her what? Her father's voice was tight when he finally answered. "No, I haven't. She's too young to understand-"

The other man bristled. "You've been keeping that little girl in the dark, and it's completely unfair to both her and Madeline," he said hotly. "She has every right to know what's going on-"

"What am I supposed to tell her, Gaebora? Tell her that her mother is getting sicker by the day and the doctor's aren't doing a damn thing to fix it? Tell her that she only has so many more weeks with her mother before she burns out? I can't. She's too young to have that kind of heartache, and as her father, it's my duty to protect her."

There was a slight jingling, as if the man was shaking his head while wearing a necklace or a watch. "You're a fool, Daphnes."

She briefly wondered who the other speaker was. If her father had spoken to her like that, she would have already been shaking in her boots, but whoever it was didn't have a hard time keeping his tone even. He had even insulted her father. If this had been any other situation, she probably would have cheered for him.

The conversation picked up again a minute later, but Zelda couldn't listen anymore. She felt dirty for prying when she had no reason to other than sheer curiosity, and she felt sick. She stumbled away from the door, feeling sicker than the blue walls had ever made her feel. She had a million questions running through her mind as she walked across the room. She dropped herself into the plastic chair like a rag doll, staring at her lap. Zelda didn't have enough time to mull over the new information before the waiting room doors burst open, revealing the two men in the doorway.

She had seen her father look haggard only once before, and the worn-look in his eyes frightened her more than any lecture ever could. His suit was immaculate, of course, but his long, wavy hair look flat against his face and she could tell her hadn't shaved in awhile. The other man looked a little better than her father. He stared at her grimly from behind his horn-rimmed spectacles for a moment before he turned away, leaving her father behind. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Come, Zelda," he said stonily. "I think you've waited here long enough."

She couldn't agree more, but any comments she had thought of caught in her throat. When was the last time she had any water? Her mouth felt cottony. She eventually obeyed, gingerly sliding off the seat. She met him in the doorway after an agonizing walk towards the door.

The rain had picked up considerably. Wind pushed against the walls of St. Hylia's Hospital and Treatment Center, howling at the windows that lined the sanitized maze of hallway as the two traveled through them. The hospital was the finest medical center that Hyrule had to offer, and judging by the décor, it was also the richest. Every hallway they walked down was brilliantly decorated with a mixture of reds, greens and blues, but it focused on cobalt for the accent colors. The white marble floors glinted with professional grade polish whose scent mixed with the overall hospital-clean scent. Dozens of expensive looking paintings hung from the walls, but she couldn't stop to look at them like she wanted to.

If she wasn't so worried, she thought that might've enjoyed exploring the vast, beautiful building.

Zelda wrung her hands, not liking how rigid her father was. She decided that the silence between them as they walked was 100x worse than the waiting room's silence. Her ballet flats tapped loudly against the marble as she alongside her father's expensive Oxfords. They turned a corner, entering a more private section of the hospital where Zelda knew her mother was living in. A nurse waved to her father and he spared her a curt nod before they stopped in front of the furthest room.

"Go on in, Zelda. You're mother should be awake right now," he said, standing away from her.

Zelda gulped, but made no move towards the door. She glanced between the door and her father unsurely.

Seeing her reluctance, she expected him to run an exasperated hand through his hair and mutter something about her being a 'petulant child'. He wasn't an affectionate man, and he rarely did anything other than pinch his nose and shake his head at her with disapproval. Her mother always said it was his way of saying 'I love you'. Zelda was more than a little surprised when his eyes softened slightly, and he nudged her forward with a little push on her back.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he said gently. "You're mother has been waiting just as long as you have. She wants to see you, so go on in. I'll be waiting right outside the door until you're done."

Zelda nodded slowly before she reluctantly curled her fingers around the doorknob. If she had been here hours ago, she would have had no trouble bouncing into her mother's room with a big smile. But after everything she had heard, she felt nothing more than dread as she opened the door and crept in.

Even though her color palette had dimmed considerably from what she normally looked like, Zelda still thought she was the most beautiful women in all of Hyrule. Her mother was lying stick-straight on the bed with her eyes close, and Zelda stopped herself from thinking that it made her look already dead. She checked to make sure she was still breathing by looking at the heart monitor ; her mother's chest barely seemed to rise when she took a breath. Her skin was pale and waxy in the lamp-light, with her short golden hair spilling from her head onto the pillows like a waterfall. Her father had told her that her mother might lose her hair from the cancer treatments, but when it did, it grew back rather quickly. Zelda remembered the bandana that she had given her mother when her hair was first shaved off a year ago.

She glanced back at the door, wondering what her father would say if she decided to abandon ship, but a small cough brought her attention back to her mother. A prickle of guilt ran through her from even considering leaving before she even spoke with the woman.

"Mama?" she said hesitantly, creeping towards her mother. "Mama?" she repeated once she was up against the rails of the hospital bed.

Madeline Nohansen's brilliant blue eyes slid open immediately, blinking away spots before settling on her frowning daughter. "Hey, Zel-Bell," she grinned.

"Hi Mama," Zelda greeted quietly, wringing her hands. Her mother's eyes looked glassier than they were last time, but the blue still seemed to sparkle as Madeline's grin widened.

"Look at you," she whispered, turning her head to the side so she could get a better look at her. "You've grown so big since I've last seen you. And you're wearing the dress I bought you. How tall are you now?"

Zelda fought the urge to cringe at how quiet her mother's voice had gotten. It used to be so strong. When had it gotten so small? "4' 7," she muttered.

Her mother chuckled; it sounded like little bells. "I hope you're tall like your dad."

Zelda nodded slightly. "Me too."

Madeline's eyes slid up and down her daughter's frame, examining her lightly. Zelda felt a little self-conscious at the outfit she had picked out for herself that morning when her mother's gaze lingered on her clothes. It was thoroughly mismatched, with a striped long sleeve shirt and flower printed overall dress, complete with lacy socks tucked into little white flats.

"Come closer." she instructed kindly. She slid her hand out of her lap towards her daughter, reaching off the bed to tug on the loose string on Zelda's hem until she had ripped it out. "One little string was trying to escape," she chuckled. "I thought I'd help it out."

"Mama, are you dying?" she blurted, immediately slapping a hand over her mouth. She hadn't meant to say what she had been thinking of since she overheard the conversation with her father and the man called Gaebora, but it rushed out of her mouth so suddenly that she didn't have the time to stop it. Her eyes widened with shame as Madeline's smile dimmed slightly.

"Yes, sweetheart," she said softly. "The doctor's are trying very hard, but your momma's not doing so hot right now."

Death was still a vague concept in Zelda's young mind, but she knew enough about it to know that once someone died, you never got to see them again. The thought of never seeing her mother again made her heart clench in her chest.

"But you can still get better, right?" she asked quickly. "I heard father talking about how there had to be something else that the doctor's could try. I know the new medication isn't working very well, but when I get home I can go to the library and look up how to fix you faster and-"

Zelda clamped her mouth shut as her mother chuckled softly, shaking her head. "You're so smart, Zel-Bell," she beamed. "Just like your dad."

The little girl stared at her mother. "And you."

Madeline's smile widened. "And me. Only you're a lot smarter than I ever was at your age. How old are you going to be on your birthday? It's in a few months, right?"

"I'm turning 7, Mama." She nibbled on her lip as she rocked back and forth on her heels nervously. "You're going to be there, right? Father said you might be well enough to even bake me a cake, and play games with me."

Her mother's eyes dimmed, so her bright smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "I don't know, baby. I really want to, but I've been so tired lately."

A comfortable silence lulled between them, with only the slight beeping of the machine's next to her mother's bed as background noise. Zelda looked down at her shoes.

"I don't want you to be tired, Mama." She mumbled, breaking the silence.

Madeline reached over the side of the bed, lacing her cold fingers with her daughter's. "You're so brave, Zel-Bell," she whispered back, squeezing her hand. "You are so so brave; braver than me, and braver than your dad." Zelda noticed the moisture that accumulated at the bottom of her mother's blue eyes. She bit her cheek as she looked away; suddenly unable to look at her mother's face anymore. She hated to see her cry. "I'm so sorry to have to put you both through this. It was very selfish of me to have gotten so sick."

Zelda's head shot back up. "No Mama! You're not selfish at all!" she insisted shrilly. "You didn't choose to get sick!"

Madeline chuckled at her daughter's surge of fury, wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand. "Maybe not," she said, her voice cracking a little. "But I did get sick, and at the rate I'm going, I think I'll to have to leave you soon."

Zelda's heart deflated at the defeat in her mother's voice. She swept over her mother's face, taking in the small tears that rolled down her cheeks to the misplaced smile on her lips. Zelda frowned for her.

She thought back to all the things her and her mother did before she was put in the hospital. Zelda was much younger, but she felt like she remembered every second that she spent playing and laughing with her. Her favorite memories were when she would help her mother in the kitchen or outside in the garden. Playing games in their backyard was a close second. Their favorite game was the one where her mother would play as a bank robber, and Zelda was the policeman who tried to stop her mother from robbing the tool shed. Realization hit her hard; her mom wasn't going to be able to do any of those things with her if she left.

"But if you go, who'll play cops-and-robbers with me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I don't know, baby. Have one of your school friends or your dad play with you," she suggested, giggling a little at the childish question. Madeline wiped her cheeks off with the back of her free hand, but it was a vain attempt at getting dry. "Your father would make a pretty good bank robber, don't you think?"

As a fresh wave of tears began to roll down her mother's face, Zelda felt anger start to boil in the pit of her stomach. "But I don't _want_ to play with my school friends and I don't _want _to play with father! I want to play with you!" she whined.

Madeline simply squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry Zel-Bell, but that's just the way it has to be-"

"Why? Why does it have to be like this?" Zelda yelled suddenly. Her eyes filled with tears immediately, and she shook her hand out of her mother's as she jumped back from the hospital bed.

The injustice of it all hit her like a ton of bricks, and although a part of her felt bad for the surprised look on her mother's face, she couldn't seem calm herself down. She knew she was being selfish now, but it didn't seem to matter. She was angry at what was making her mother sick, and she was even angrier with the doctor's for not reversing it.

"It's not fair! I don't want you to go! I want you to come to my birthday party, and I want to swing on the porch with you when it rains, and I want you to make s'mores with me when it's warm outside!" she blubbered hysterically. "I want you to drop me off at school on my first day, and I want you to tuck me in and read me stories before I go to bed at night, and I want you to teach me how to count in the hundreds and how to read clocks! And I want to play cops-and-robbers with you! Who's going to do all that if you leave?" Zelda balled her fists and rubbed them into her eyes, plugging up any more tears that tried to roll down her cheeks. "It's not fair, Mama! You can't go!"

She reached for Zelda's hand again, but her daughter snatched it to her chest defensively. "I'm so so so sorry, Zel-Bell," she whispered, her smile holding steady. Zelda didn't like the hurt undertones in her voice. "I want to be there for all of those things, but I don't think I can."

The door flew open, revealing her father. "Is everything okay in here? I heard yelling." he asked, looking startled. His eyes passed between his hysterical daughter to his crying wife before pressing his mouth into a thin line. He started walking over to the hospital bed. "Zelda, why are you yelling? You know you can't be doing that in here, especially with your mother being so fragile right now -"

"Mom's dying and it's not fair!" she shrieked. Zelda wanted nothing more than to crumple to the ground in a heap of mismatched clothes, but her body felt frozen. "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair…" she chanted like a mantra, sobbing into her hands.

Madeline fought to sit up, but Daphnes put a halting hand on her shoulder. "I think it's time I take her home." He said calmly.

"Daphnes, it's okay. She's just upset." her mother insisted quietly, taking his hand. "Give her some time with me and she'll be alright."

"No, Madeline. I need to take her home. You are in no condition to deal with her right now; make rest your top priority right now and let me take care of our daughter. I'm sorry, honey, but we have to go. I'll come tomorrow at lunchtime."

Madeline nodded slightly. "I understand," she said softly, easily sinking back into her pillows without any fight. Zelda noticed belatedly how much the conversation had taken out of her mother. Normally, her mother would protest to being told to rest, but today she didn't. It made Zelda's whole body feel cold.

Daphnes squeezed his wife's hand slightly before kneeling in front of his crying daughter. "Zelda, I know you're upset, but we need to go."

Zelda didn't budge. The front of her shirt was soaked with tears, and she kept her fists in tight balls. Her hair fell over her face, which thankfully created a golden curtain between her and her parents. Did they not understand the injustice that had been dealt to them?

"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair…" she repeated, ignoring her father.

"Sweetheart, please," Daphnes insisted.

"Zel-Bell, listen to your father," her mother said weakly.

But Zelda wasn't having any of it. A hurricane of emotions whipped through her small frame, leaving the little girl to mourn in the eye of the storm. She hated that her mother was so sick, and she hated that the doctor's could do nothing more for her than wait. She hated that her father, her incredibly intelligent and successful father, couldn't do anything for her mother. And most of all, she hated that she had made her mother cry.

Standing in her mother's lavish hospital room was like being in the waiting room again, only much worse. An overwhelming urge to run as far as she could from her parents filled her entire body.

She didn't hear her mother's weak cries for her to come back, nor did she hear her father chasing after her as Zelda ripped open the door and flew down the hospital's hallways. She blindly ran through the maze of hospital wings, startling the nurses when a flash of pink flowers and stripes flew by them.

Tears blurred her vision as she bounded out of the automatic main entrance door and out into the hospital courtyard. It was only after she was soaked to the bone with rain that Zelda's energy flat-lined and she crumpled to the sidewalk in a heap of fabric and wind-whipped hair.

She didn't protest when her father gingerly scooped her up moments later, taking her back to their car where he wrapped her in a blue hospital blanket before buckling her into the backseat. Her father climbed into the front seat, turning the key to start the ignition. He was just as wet as Zelda was, but it didn't seem to faze him. She was sure that he was going to be furious later when he realized that he had ruined his suit. But as they started to pull out of the parking lot, he was strangely quiet.

Zelda stared at retreating shape of the hospital with a growing resentment in her stomach. The color palette of the day was one that she wouldn't forget; from the washed-out blue waiting room, to the cobalt accents throughout the hospital, to her mother's sapphire-colored eyes that she had left blinking with tears.

No, she decided, she didn't hate the color blue.

She _loathed _the color blue with every fiber of her being.

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Author's Note: Okay, I know you're all judging my lack of a proper A/N but to be fair this is only my second story and I still don't know how to use this thing. Maybe I did it? I put lines?

Oh, the woes of being a newbie. But I'm here aren't I? Go me!

So, I've had the idea for this story for months. The only reason I'm posting it now is because I've had the first two chapters written since July and I have to submit it before the story grows dust on my laptop and I lose the will to write it. I made a promise that I'd always finish a story unless something awful happens to me, so here I am forcing myself to honor that promise. I really hope you guys enjoyed this. And hey, if you didn't, tell me how I can make it better! Sorry this is so long but I have so much to say and little room to say it. Boy, this is hard. Anyways, hope you guys stick around for this. I'm proud of what I've done so far, even though I'm not too sure if it's good. I have a lot to learn.

Okay I'm done. I hope you find money on the street for reading for this long. Bless your heart.

-callmeordinary


	2. Chapter 1: First Star I See Tonight

Disclaimer: Jokes on you, still don't own it.

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Chapter 1: First Star I See Tonight

It was getting late.

Zelda Harkinian finally glanced to her side, squinting to see the hands of the clock that ticked on the wall. Her eyes were fuzzy from staring at her paperwork for so long, and it took her a moment before her vision cleared up enough so that she could read the time.

She shrugged, a little impressed with herself. Three hours overtime and she hadn't even noticed. She dryly wondered if the saying, "time flies fast when you're having fun," held true.

Zelda finally dropped her pen, suddenly aware of badly her hand was cramping. She had been given more reports to look over than usual, and it was expected of her that she had them completed and turned in on her boss's desk the next morning. By the time she looked at the clock, she had just finished putting the last few corrections onto the report. It was hard, tedious work. If Mr. Ingo wasn't a borderline-sadistic boss with the work ethic of a god, she would've put the paperwork off for another week. She respected her boss's diligence, but his attitude left a great deal to be desired.

She straightened in her seat, dully noting how much she had been slumped over her desk. She brushed back the chunks of hair that had loosened themselves out of her braid, and the necklace she was wearing had somehow slipped out from under her shirt and was resting on top of her desk. She tucked the little locket back into her blouse before she started to stand up.

Zelda swept the papers together, stacking them on the corner of her desk so she could hand them to Mr. Ingo first thing in the morning. She was sure that she had completed her task perfectly, and she didn't have time to double check her work. Right now, she really needed to get back to her apartment. The clock said it was getting close to midnight and Zelda knew that she would have to walk since the bus she usually took home didn't run that late. She glanced at her heels and sighed.

Throwing her purse over the shoulder of her coat, she exited her cubicle and headed for the door. A quick sweep of the room revealed that she was the last one in the office. Funny, she didn't remember hearing anybody leave. She shrugged noncommittally, clicking the office lights off as she left.

Zelda buttoned up her coat a little more as she walked down the street. It wasn't a particularly cold night, but the breeze that ran through her hair had a bite to it that seemed misplaced for early August. She didn't really mind it, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel a growing number of goose bumps.

Looking around as she walked with her hands in her pockets, she realized how pretty of a night it was. The moon was a thin, pearly crescent, and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. The stars were dim from the streetlights but at least there weren't many cars around at this time of night to really distract from them.

She never noticed these things when she rode the bus. Usually, she checked her work or school e-mails on her way home every day, and she rarely glanced out the window – except to check if she was close to her stop. Sometimes she found her eyes were drawn to a random person walking, or a neon sign, but Zelda never really looked up at the sky. She would have to do that more often, she decided.

Zelda turned a corner, heels scraping against the sidewalk in response. They clicked loudly as she continued down the street and she half-wondered if the people in the buildings could hear the echo as she passed by. She mentally decided that they could. The night was near silent besides her obnoxious pumps, with no other sound than the slight flicker of a street lamp.

She was about two blocks away from her apartment building when she noticed another pair of shoes tapping against the sidewalk behind her. She figured it was just another worker who missed the bus like her and didn't pay any attention to them. Zelda kept looking up at the stars, wondering why she rarely looked up. She couldn't come up with any other answer other than she was busy, and therefore had no time to deal with stars. She certainly fit the horribly busy description of the modern employee, what with her near-insane boss and the overwhelming stacks of paperwork that she had to sift through, but she figured that work wasn't all-consuming like she made it out to be. She took classes up at the university, too.

She inwardly groaned as the thought hit her; she had forgotten all about the 7 o'clock class that she had the next morning, along with the 10:30 shift she had to cover at the office right after class. She couldn't really complain, though. It was her fault that she signed up for the earliest Psychology class that the university offered. But still.

Zelda ran a hand over her face, pausing to look back up at the inky blue sky as if asking for a blessing. It would take a miracle for her to get through tomorrow. Mr. Ingo was giving her more and more menial tasks to fulfill lately with the promise of a promotion, and she didn't have any other option but to do them. She needed the money that a pay raise would bring; if working ridiculous hours was the only way to get what she wanted out of life, then so be it.

Zelda finally tore her gaze from the sky when she noticed the footsteps growing louder behind her. The sound was even and calculated in her ears – as if the person behind her knew the precise amount of steps they should take to get home. A flicker of worry passed through her, but she dismissed it. Maybe they were just enjoying the night on their commute home? They had been on the same path for a block now, so maybe whoever they were lived in an apartment too. But, then again, she didn't remember any of the other people who lived in her apartment complex working late hours other than Dampé, and he was a grave keeper.

She also didn't remember anybody from her building who liked to take nighttime walks. They were all morning people, just like her – the kind who went to bed at midnight and who had breakfast out on the table by 7 o'clock sharp.

With a rising suspicion, Zelda decided to take a random corner to see if the person was actually following her. Sure enough, the footsteps didn't fade away like they should have. Zelda turned another corner, producing the same result. She was only a block away from her home, but whoever was following her was getting more persistent. She had to lose them.

Zelda calmly began weaving her way through the series of alleys before the apartment complex, glad that the business district of Castle Town's layout was a messy grid. Yet, despite her many turns, the footsteps never seemed to falter as the person following her continued their pursuit. Zelda was running out of ideas, and it wasn't until she had accidently turned into a dead end that she realized that it may get ugly. She reached into her purse, turning around as the person following her entered the alley.

Zelda could only confirm two things as she analyzed her follower; the person was a young man, and he wasn't your standard mugger.

She knew the former by his broad shoulders, too broad to be female, and his light build. She decided that he couldn't be older than 30 and no younger than 18. He stood with the confidence of a bachelor. She couldn't see his face due to the hood he was wearing, and she couldn't identify him via hair color either. She only had her gut feeling to work off of.

She knew the latter because if he was indeed a mugger, he would have wasted no time in running towards her with the intention of getting her wallet, but he hadn't. Instead, the man simply leaned against the corner of the alleyway, looking like he had all the time in the world as he crossed his ankles lazily.

"You didn't hesitate to give me the slip back there, Blondie," the man said coolly. "What's the matter? Afraid I was a purse snatcher?"

The man's voice was dangerously smooth, like crushed velvet, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up with dread. No, she decided firmly, he wasn't your standard mugger. He was something else entirely. She just didn't know what. "Something like that," she muttered.

"Well, if that's the case, what exactly do you propose I am?"

"Why are you asking?" Zelda replied shrewdly, narrowing her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be robbing me or something?"

The man laughed; a deep, melodic sound that made Zelda shiver with she didn't know what. "I want people to know what they're dealing with before I make any moves."

Zelda frowned. "That's kind of sadistic, making people guess what you are."

"I like to think of it more as a public service. I'm trying to even the playing field here; I know a little about you, and now you get the chance to know a little about me." The man said, crossing his arms. "So? What am I?"

Although she was wary, Zelda brushed off his odd request – she had seen enough Law & Order in her days to know to humor a criminal if she was ever faced with one in order to buy herself some time. Plus, she couldn't deny her budding curiosity, so hey, why not go with it?

She tilted her head slightly, deeply considering what he was asking. She had already decided that he wasn't an average thief, but that didn't really limit her options. He was dressed too nicely to need any extra money, anyways. The sleek black overcoat and crease-less button-up looked expensive, and the leather combat boots he wore weren't anything to scoff at either. She could probably see her reflection in them if she was close enough.

"You don't look like a drug dealer," she said. "And your getup doesn't really suit the 'local outlaw" look, either."

The man laughed softly. "Good, good. Anything else?"

"Gang member? No, no you're not really wearing anything gang-related to identify you with, other than all black and that's not really uncommon." Zelda's brows furrowed as she ran through the different types of criminals that she knew of. "Rapist? Or maybe a serial killer?" she suggested thoughtfully.

"I must say, I'm a bit impressed. Most people stop at gangster." The man tore himself away from the wall, taking deliberately slow steps towards her with arms still crossed against his chest.

Zelda suddenly felt cold. "So you've done 'this' to other people?"

He ignored her. "Well, I'm not a gang member, although you are somewhat close with that one. I wouldn't mind taking a bite of you Blondie, but I would prefer your consent." The implied '_prefer_' hung in the air for a moment before he continued: "So no, I'm not a rapist. As for being a serial killer, I can confirm that I have better things to do than murder a few Hylians for fun."

Zelda's curiosity had peaked by now, and she couldn't help herself when she blurted out, "Surely you have to be one of those things. You said I was close when I said gang member, but you don't have any symbols on you. If you're not any of those, then what _are _you?"

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he stopped a few feet away from her. "What? Are you sure you don't know, Blondie?

"I honestly don't," she commented dryly, feeling stumped and a little bit annoyed that he already had a pet name for her. She took a casual step back to keep the distance between them. "Tell me, then, if you're so keen on wanting me to know what kind of criminal you are."

"Funny, I thought that you of all people would've recognized a man just trying to do his job," he replied, a note of amusement in his tone. "We're both employees of someone bigger than us. Only I prefer to think of myself as something like a protégé than an actual employee."

Zelda was completely clueless as to what he was talking about. Her curiosity begged her to ask him another question, but he spoke first.

"You're a smart girl. You'll figure it out eventually, and I'd hate to ruin the surprise by telling you. Now then," he said, his voice lost all of its previous diversion and he became cold, "You have something that I want."

Zelda squashed down her curiosity at his words, becoming serious as well. She had almost forgotten what she was looking for in her purse, and she continued to brush against the contents until she finally felt the comforting feel of metal against her fingertips. "I do?" she asked.

"Yes. And I intend to get it from you."

A flicker of panic rose through her. So it w_as _going to get ugly after all.

The whole scenario vaguely reminded her of the old comic books she read when she was little; a young girl is trapped in an alley by a mysterious figure cloaked in black, but just before things took a turn for the worst, the girl gets whisked away by a handsome hero and is taken to safety.

She inwardly groaned. Her supply of dashing knights was painfully low. She curled her fingers around her weapon with a frown on her face. Without any way to ask for help, she'd have to do this by herself.

The man stretched out a slender, gloved hand to her. "Give me your necklace, Blondie."

"My necklace?" she asked. She had been completely clueless before, but now she was dumbstruck.

"Like I said, I prefer consent, and I would much rather have you give it to me than have to rip it from your pretty little neck." He said coldly.

Zelda didn't budge, and the two were at a standstill for a few, agonizing minutes. Her mind was racing all the while. Why would he want her necklace? It was a keepsake of her mother's, just a simple gold locket with a Triforce on it – nothing more than your standard old trinket. Maybe he was a robber after all. The necklace had a few small gems on it, but there was no way he knew that. She could feel the cold metal against her chest where her heart struggled to beat evenly. Was he ordered to retrieve it, and if so, why would his supposed "employer" want it?

"I'm not wearing a necklace." she lied.

A pause: "Is that a '_no_', then?"

"I-"

"Don't give it to him!"

Zelda was about to turn to where the new voice had erupted, but the man in black rushed forward in an attempt to take her by surprise. She quickly dove out to the side, landing into a type of kneel. The man's head was angled at the dumpster behind her and hissed a string of curses before returning his attention back to her. Hoping her reflexes were going to be quick enough, she ripped the handgun out of her purse, readying it in her hands when the man was only a foot away with her arms outstretched.

Although she still couldn't see his face even at such a close distance, she was sure a smirk had curled onto his face. "I didn't expect that," he said, sounding a little impressed as he held his arms up in surrender. "The whole "pencil skirt and heels" look you have going on made me think you were just the cute secretary."

"I'm full of surprises," she replied coolly. With the gun cocked in her hand, she felt a lot more confident than she had a few moments ago.

"As am I."

Before she could react, the man reached into his pocket, pulled out a small, brown sphere and threw it down in front of him. Zelda was blinded by the flash that erupted from shattered Deku Nut, and a gust of wind flew over her. Her hand jerked off the trigger to cover where the locket was under her blouse when something brushed her ear. She heard a soft, "I'll see you soon, Blondie," along with a sharp pain across her cheek.

When her vision finally cleared, she saw that the man in black had vanished. She quickly checked that her mother's locket was safely looped around her neck before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Goddesses!" she shrieked, jumping back from the offending hand and aiming her gun. She looked up from the barrel to see another man, this time in green, smiling down at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I could have shot you!"

"I came here just in time." He said matter-of-factly. He crossed his arms over his chest with what she interpreted as a smug grin. "That man was dangerous. Glad I was here to save you, little lady."

"You didn't _save_ anyone," she muttered angrily, annoyed that she had lost the criminal and by the new guy's cocky attitude. She aimed the gun at the man's chest. "I had this completely under control before you went ahead and ruined it."

"Uh, huh," he nodded sarcastically, "seems like it."

Zelda eyed his forest green outfit warily. He wore a similar hooded overcoat, but she could see his face clearly besides the thin mask he wore to cover the area around his eyes. They were a startling blue, but other than that she couldn't tell anything else; the moon wasn't enough light to make out any distinguishing features. She did notice a few tawny chunks of hair poke out from under his hood, though. She also made a point to note that this guy's voice didn't have the dangerous velvety feel of the other man's voice, but it sounded equally as masculine – kind of like melting chocolate.

His intentions seemed to be good as he offered a hand to help her up, but she swatted him away. The blonde huffed as she stood up, wobbling a little on her heels. The man reached to steady her, only to back off when Zelda cast him a scathing look.

"You know, I really should arrest you for obstructing the law, and for being a possible accessory to the crime." She said stiffly, brushing off her skirt with one hand while she kept the gun steadied in the other.

The man's golden brows shot to his hairline. "You're kidding, right?"

"_Hello, _arresting the bad guys is kind of my job," she said, waving her handgun at him for emphasis before re-aiming at his chest. "And since I have no intention of being fired, I order you as a member of the Castleton Federal Police Force to get down on the ground and put your hands behind your head. If you can't complete this task in the next five seconds, I'm legally permitted to shoot you down under the charges of resisting arrest."

He crossed his arms, frowning. "You can't be serious."

"One_…"_

"Not that I'm opposed to getting orders from a girl in high heels or anything, but really? You're arresting me?"

"Two_…"_

"_Did you miss me rescue you from that guy_?" he asked shrilly, waving his arms. "Because that literally happened a few minutes ago, and I don't think a police officer such as yourself should have that short of a memory-"

Zelda cocked her gun, narrowing her eyes. "_Three…"_

"Fine! Fine!" he muttered hotly. "I'll put my stupid arms behind my head but I'm not going to get these pants dirty."

"_Four…"_

He groaned loudly. He reluctantly tucked his arms behind his head and dropped to the ground on his knees, glaring at her. "You are one, cold-hearted woman, you know that?"

Zelda shrugged, smiling slightly. "Comes with the territory, I guess."

No longer viewing him as a serious threat, she debated whether or not she should put away her gun. She had a strange feeling that this man was trustworthy and would do as she asked. Still, the feeling didn't stop her from reaching into her coat pocket where she kept a pair of handcuffs, pulling them out for good measure.

The man eyed the silver chains in her hands, shaking his head with disbelief."Handcuffs?"

"Handcuffs," she repeated simply. She slipped the gun back into her purse, but kept a part of it sticking out in case she ended up needing to use it.

"You know," he said casually as she hooked the metal cuffs around his wrists, "I normally don't mind being handcuffed by a pretty woman, but somehow I think you ruined them for me."

"Oops," she said, purposefully tightening the restraints until they dug into his gloves and hopefully his skin. She dully noticed how sleek the leather was. "My bad."

"Whoa there, Sheriff," he joked. "Take it easy. No need to take it out on my poor wrists."

"What are you supposed to be anyways?" Zelda huffed, ignoring his previous comments as she returned to the front of him to look him in the eyes. He was really starting to get on her nerves, and the crude jokes certainly weren't doing anything other than souring her mood."Some kind of wanna-be hero?"

"I prefer the term 'masked vigilante'," he commented stiffly.

Zelda was a little amused that he had gotten offended rather quickly by her comment. His eyes suddenly narrowed, and she was sure that he was going to make another snide remark but he didn't. Instead, he nodded towards her cheek.

"You're bleeding." He jerked his chin down, gesturing towards his breast pocket. "There should be a handkerchief in there. You can use it to cover the wound until you get home."

Zelda tentatively brought her fingertips to where he had nodded to; surprised when a few droplets of blood soaked into her skin. She figured it was from the Deku Nut's shell as it exploded, causing a piece to fly off and cut her - unless the man in black had decided to knife her during his escape.

The blonde eyed his pocket for a second before the man groaned, saying, "Oh, come on. Don't be stubborn. Take it out before it you bleed all over your clothes."

She glared at him for a moment before begrudgingly slipping her hand into his pocket and pulling the cloth out. She pressed it to her cheek immediately. It was soft, like satin, and a part of her felt bad for dirtying it - the other part didn't care. Zelda had mentally decided that she didn't like the new man in green, and although she had to give him_ some_ credit for trying, he hadn't really done anything helpful. He made her lose a good lead on what sounded like a growing crime operation, and Zelda wasn't too sure when she would hear of it again. He also had managed to rub her the wrong way with just a few sentences. He came across as a cocky jerk who thought he was some kind of hero of the people. What kind of hero was he supposed to be, anyways? The city had the police to keep them safe. He wasn't even a necessary asset. She was sure he was just a poser with a lot of time on his hands.

Yet, there wasn't any other explanation as to why his presence made the man in black leave in a hurry other than him being a genuine "good guy". Maybe the man in black just didn't want to be seen in a shady alley trying to steal from a random girl? Then again, if he was a criminal, he wouldn't have cared to protect his reputation. Plus, why would he have cursed so much if he didn't know the new guy? Zelda was puzzled as her list of questions grew.

"Aren't you supposed to be reading me my rights or something?"

Zelda blinked. "Oh. Right."

The so-called hero shook his head lightly, peering up at her with his head tilted sideways. "You're new to this whole 'cop thing' aren't you," he asked with a grin.

"Office jobs pay better," she shrugged. "But I think I'll skip out on the rights for now. I need to call for someone to come pick you up."

The man in green rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

She whipped out her phone and punched in a quick message to her boss. Mr. Ingo had recently discovered the delicate art of texting and would only respond in that format, refusing to answer any of his phone calls no matter how urgent they could have been. Despite the slight inconvenience, he still managed to get the job done. Zelda tucked her cell back into her pocket with the complete knowledge that somebody was being sent to her location.

The wind blew through her hair as an oddly comfortable pause ensued. Zelda felt her eyes wander to the so-called hero. He wasn't looking at her, opting to stare at the ground as if he had suddenly gotten deep in thought. The moonlight cast pretty looking shadows on his face, and she hadn't paid much attention to his appearance until he gave her that - _dare she say it - _cute grin. It was still too dark for her to make out any real features, but he did have a nice set of pearly whites on him. Zelda inwardly groaned; even if he turned out to be a 10/10 in the light, she refused to give in to whatever her feminine side had to say.

After a few moments, he broke the silence:

"The guy who ran off, do you know what he was after?" He asked, staring at her intently.

Zelda bit her lip. The only thing she knew about this guy was that she didn't like him (and that he could potentially be swoon-worthy, but she wasn't about to mention it), so she wasn't exactly ready to confide in him. Yet, a voice in her head insisted that he was completely trustworthy. After a moment of internal struggle, Zelda decided to go with it; besides, she had nothing else to do but wait for backup to come take him back to the station. She might as well keep up with the conversation.

"Well, not initially, no. He had been following me for a block before I tried to lose him in these alleys. I went into this dead end by accident and he closed me off. I thought he was going to be some pretty mugger who just wanted my wallet, but after a few minutes he asked me for my necklace."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Show it to me."

Zelda paused, unsure.

"Please," he insisted, "It's important that I know what he wanted from you."

Zelda reluctantly kneeled in front of the man, tugging the necklace out from under her blouse to hold it out for him to see. The pendant looked so small in her hand – only an inch or so wide – yet it still managed to sparkle in the moonlight. The man in green poured over it intently.

"Where did you get this?" He seemed to be interested in the Triforce in the center, asking her to bring it closer so he could see it up close.

"I found it at a pawn shop," she lied quickly.

If he suspected something, he didn't let on. Instead, the man nodded, continuing to look at it for a few moments longer. "I wonder…thank you, miss. I think you're safe now." He said abruptly. "He shouldn't be after you anytime soon. You're free to go home now. "

Zelda furrowed her brows, suddenly confused. "What are you talking abo-"

The handcuffs fell to the ground loudly as the man stood up, rubbing his wrists gingerly. He tucked his now-free hands into his coat pockets before he started to run out of the alleyway.

Zelda gaped at him in awe. "How did you-" She suddenly came back to her senses, scrambling to catch up to him - heels were such a bad idea.

"Wait! Get back here, you bastard!"

The man simply waved over his shoulder. "Have a good night!"

"Oh no you don't!" She hissed, picking up the pace. She stretched out her hand to grab his coat, but another flash of light exploded from the ground and the man vanished in a flurry of green.

Zelda blinked until the glare disappeared, shaking her head as the second failure of the night sunk in. "He got away. They both did."

That night, Zelda lie wide awake in her bed, clutching her necklace in her hands. She had gotten home safely, but it wasn't without the occasional cautious glance over her shoulder. The so-called hero had said that the man in black wouldn't be after her anytime soon, but she could still hear the whispered, "I'll see you soon, Blondie" in her ear. It gave her chills.

Her day had ended poorly, she decided. She lost what she thought was a good lead on a rising criminal organization, and she found out that there was a masked vigilante who was somehow ahead of the police force when it came to new crime in the city. Not to mention her embarrassment when she had to explain to her fellow officer that the man she apprehended had escaped. And, there was the bit about her mother's locket that she had yet to understand. She turned it over in her hands, outlining the gems with her fingertips.

Why was everyone suddenly so interested in it? It was just your standard old trinket; her mother gave it to her as a birthday present ten years ago. Why would anybody want it? The thing even had a few dents in it from when Zelda dropped it in the garbage disposal on accident and turned the thing on before she noticed the necklace was missing. The lie she told the blonde guy could've been accurate if she hadn't known better. It did look like it might've come from a pawn shop, other than the brilliantly-cut gems on it.

Zelda sighed as she flopped onto her stomach: _I bet Mary Jane never had to deal with thugs after __her__ jewelry._

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! Chapter 1! If you read my super long intro in the prologue, _bless your heart. _It was long and embarrassing, but it needed to be said. Chapter 2 is being edited as we speak, and it should be up in the next two weeks! Bare with me though. I'm slow at these things.

But anyways, hope this was enough to make you want to read! I don't really expect a lot of readers, but hey, who doesn't like a good cop story? I sure do.

-callmeordinary


	3. Chapter 2: Wheel of Misfortune

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda franchise, nor any of the Daytime Television shows that I mention. I do own this story, though!

* * *

**Chapter 2: Wheel of Misfortune**

If there was an "_I hate Tuesdays" _mug out there, Zelda would've bought in a heartbeat.

She scowled discreetly into her cup of coffee as she took a sip, half-listening to the latest intern rant to her about her newfound hatred of their boss.

"I mean, have you_ seen_ his clothes? The guy wears a bubblegum pink suit and expects us all to go along with his dictatorship!"

Zelda barely nodded, more because she was falling asleep at her desk than to encourage the insults, but the intern didn't even notice as she continued with renewed vigor.

Zelda honestly had no idea why the new girl was even talking to her. It wasn't like they were friends or anything. They were around the same age, and she sometimes saw her in the hallways of the university, but they only exchanged a polite hello because they knew they worked together. But now, Tatl seemed to have moved past being mere-acquaintances to making Zelda her one and only confident in the woes and frustrations of being Ingo's personal assistant. Normally, she wouldn't have minded talking with her co-workers but a lousy night's sleep coupled with a two-hour long lecture from her least favorite professor only made her want to take a long nap. And to top it all off, it was only 12:30, and her shift ended at 6:30 in the afternoon on Tuesdays.

She stifled a yawn as Tatl began again.

"He doesn't even make sense half the time. One minute he's complaining to me about how the coffee here sucks, but then he wants me to bring him four cups of it." Tatl popped her gum, shaking her head angrily. "Maybe he's bipolar or something. He asked me to organize the storage room by size and shape today, but as soon as I finished he told me I needed to throw it all out! Who does that?"

Zelda took another sip: "Ingo."

Tatl suddenly leaned onto Zelda's desk with her elbows, her voice getting quiet. "You know what I think?"

Zelda glanced up, resisting the urge to sigh. "What?"

Tatl gave Ingo's office a dull look before going back to Zelda. "I think he needs to get laid," she muttered.

Zelda snorted into her cup, nearly dropping the mug onto her desk. "_What_?" she choked.

"You heard me." Tatl popped her gum again, twirling a blonde curl around her finger. "He wouldn't be nearly as awful if he had a girlfriend." Her eyes suddenly narrowed on something a little ways from Zelda's desk. "Speak of the devil-"

"Tatl!" Ingo barked, as if on command. He stomped in front of Zelda's desk in all of his pink glory, holding a rather large stack of papers in his calloused hands. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing over here? You're supposed to be-"

Tatl held up a hand. "In the storage room," she said, cutting him off. She pushed herself off of Zelda's desk to face their fuming boss, crossing her arms with a sudden, sunny expression. Any trace of her previous rage had dissipated. "I was just talking to Zelda here about the new coffee machine and whether or not I should put the old one into storage. It still works, right?"

Ingo's mustache seemed to twitch as his eyes narrowed: "It does."

Tatl clapped excitedly. "Well, that settles it!" She put a hand on an impressed-looking Zelda's shoulder, giving her a gracious smile. "I guess I'll just put in the back as a spare, you know, in case the new one breaks down. Thanks for the idea, Zelda. I owe you one."

Tatl turned on her heels and pushed past their boss without another word. She threw Zelda a wink over her shoulder before she disappeared down the hallway. Zelda felt a smug smile tug on the corner of her mouth from behind the safety of her cup. She had to give the girl some credit; she was one hell of an actress. Plus, anybody who could speak so plainly to a furious Ingo – let alone be a new face in the office - was a saint in her eyes. She decided that the new girl wasn't half bad. Maybe they'd end up being friends.

Ingo shook his head angrily. "She's been here for two weeks and I'm already considering firing her-"

"And go through the process of getting _another _assistant? Ingo, you've had-"

"That's _Mr. Ingo_ to you, Harkinian." He growled.

Zelda resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "_Mr. Ingo_, you've gone through at least five different interns in the past month. Tatl's the best one you've had so far. She's doing her job just fine. I think you should keep her around."

"She's callous, short-tempered, hard to work with-"

There was a soft, foreign laugh; "Kind of like you, Ingo."

Zelda jerked her head to where the new voice had come from, laying her eyes on the Director and Chief of Police herself with the ghost of an amused smile on her lips.

Ingo was her boss, but Impa Knight was her boss's, boss's boss. There was no higher position than hers; she oversaw the entire Castleton Federal Police Force, along with the smaller law enforcement branches in Kakariko, Death Mountain, the Gerudo Desert, and in the Zora's Domain. She was scarily calm and collected, with knowing red eyes that seemed to see right through you. Her intimidating demeanor, coupled with her overall brilliance and genius fighting techniques made her the perfect candidate to lead all of Hyrule's law enforcement branches. Zelda had only seen the woman in magazines and press interviews, and her cheeks lit up in embarrassment at meeting someone so important on such a rough day.

Today, Chief Knight's silver hair was tied in a neat, no-nonsense type of bun, with a one long braid that reached past her shoulders. She had small paint lines around her eyes, but that wasn't out of the ordinary; she was one of the last remaining members of the Sheikah race, and the markings were a way of announcing her heritage. She was unorthodox in her uniform, foregoing the police hat and jacket for a tight, navy jumpsuit with a matching silver armored vest and boots.

Ingo sputtered, red-faced, nearly dropping the stacks of papers in his arms as he struggled to throw up a hand in salute to her. "Chief Knight, I-I didn't expect you to be here until later in the afternoon," he stammered.

Zelda snickered into her cup at the sight of her suddenly flustered boss, though she quickly sobered when the Director began to speak.

"I apologize for any inconvenience – I see you are unprepared, Mr. Wright – but I arrived from Kakariko last night, and I decided that I would drop in early," the Sheikah replied coolly. She looked Ingo up and down, looking at him curiously. "I hope my unexpected has not caused you any problems?"

Ingo shook his head vigorously. "No, not at all. It is always a pleasure to have you."

Chief Knight nodded curtly in return. She turned her attention to a surprised-looking Zelda. "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced," she said, extending a hand. "What is your name?"

Zelda put her now-empty cup before she shook her hand lightly. She noticed how calloused it was. "Uhm, I'm Zelda Harkinian. I'm just an officer here. Nice to meet you, Chief Knight."

Zelda thought she saw a flicker of recognition in Impa's eyes when she said her name, but it was gone as quickly as it came; leaving her wondering if it was ever there in the first place.

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Officer Harkinian." Impa said kindly as she pulled her hand away. She curiously glanced down at Zelda's desk and over the mountains of paperwork that covered it. "What department do you work in?"

Ingo was watching Zelda like a hawk as she replied, no doubt to make sure she didn't say anything that would tarnish his name: "I'm in the Response and Services branch, but I've been doing a lot of paperwork for Human Resources lately. Mr. Ingo needed some extra help looking over all the reports, so he called me in to help."

"I see." Impa glanced at her mug, then to scrutinize Zelda's face, making the blonde feel a little self-conscious. She had tried her best to look presentable that morning, dabbing the bags under her eyes with concealer and applying a few extra coats of mascara to brighten her face. She had even put some blush on. She thought she had looked okay, minus the slight purple hue underneath her eyes; her freakishly pale skin made even the tiniest bags look like bruises, and concealer could only do so much. She really wished she had gotten more sleep. Zelda hoped that she couldn't tell how awkward (or tired) she felt as she fiddled with the handle of her mug, trying to keep her eyes trained on the Chief of Police's.

Impa searched her face for what felt like ages before another smile, this time a real smile, graced her face. "You look like a bright girl, Officer Harkinian. I expect good things from you."

"Uh, thanks, Chief Knight!" she replied, surprised. She didn't think that her resume was that impressive. Why was the Chief and Director of the entire Hyrulian Law Enforcement system being so nice to her? Zelda was baffled, but she decided that the silver-haired lady wasn't nearly as cold and impenetrable as the press made her out to me. She was grateful for her kindness, and respected Chief Knight all the more for it.

"She's under my direct supervision, Chief Knight," Ingo suddenly piped up. Zelda smothered the urge to scowl at how eager the man looked to please the Sheikah. He rarely showed interest in any of his employees – only talking to one to argue, insult, or order them around – and Zelda was no exception. Sure, he gave her more work than the others, but that was because he knew that she could complete them better than her other coworkers. So why he was vouching for her good work now was beyond her.

"Is she now?" Impa said thoughtfully. "See to it that you take good care of this one."

Ingo glanced at Zelda before giving Impa and overly-sunny grin. "Oh, of course! She's the best one I have!"

_Kiss ass, _Zelda thought begrudgingly.

Impa nodded to him curtly, before a low buzzing sounded from the Sheikah's pocket. "Ah, that must be Nabooru. She's expecting me for a meeting while I'm in the capitol," Impa explained, pulling out a sleek smart phone from her breast pocket. Her eyes narrowed at the screen before she tucked it back into her pocket, bringing her attention back to the two in front of her. "It's been lovely chatting with you both, but I'm afraid my Co-Director is getting impatient and I must go." She said apologetically. She extended her hand towards Zelda. "It was nice to meet you, Officer Harkinian, and I look forward to speaking with you again."

Zelda nodded and smiled as she shook her hand. "Me too."

Impa pulled away, turning to the mustachioed man beside Zelda's desk. "Mr. Wright, I do believe we have a meeting scheduled for 3 o'clock. Please, refrain from being late."

Ingo saluted her rigidly. "I wouldn't dream of it, Chief Knight!"

Impa bowed slightly before she turned on her heels and disappeared down the hallway as Zelda waved at her. Ingo didn't drop his salute until the Director's silver hair swished out of view.

As soon as she was gone, Ingo's eyes immediately narrowed on Zelda. "Harkinian, I do believe _we _have a meeting as well." he hissed.

_Guess he's done being Mr. Brightside_, Zelda thought dryly. She racked her brain for a moment before coming up empty-handed. "We do?"

Ingo Wright rolled his eyes, as if she had asked a stupid question. She couldn't say that she hadn't, though. "Yes, regarding your little call to pick up a criminal that wasn't there last night?"

Zelda felt shame wash through her at the memory. "Right," she said miserably.

"Be in my office in five minutes, Harkinian. _And don't be late_."

Zelda gave him half-hearted salute as he turned away from her. "Aye aye, Captain."

"I heard that!" he snapped over his shoulder.

"You were supposed to," she mumbled to herself. As soon as he was gone, Zelda leaned back in her office chair and ran her fingers miserably through her loose hair.

She really didn't want to go to Ingo's office and recount what happened all over again, but it was mandatory. It was part of their policy in the Police Force that any officer who made a call for back-up or requested any kind of assistance while out of uniform had to come in for a follow-up meeting with the head of their department; unlike the usual impersonal reports they had to send in when something happened on the job.

Unfortunately for her, Ingo wasn't just the head of her department, but he oversaw all of the goings-on in the office as the Head of Staff. He didn't have nearly as much power as Chief Knight or her Co-Director Nabooru, but he was quite important when it came to the entire office. Going to him kind of felt like you were going to the teacher; not quite as bad as seeing the principal, but still pretty bad.

Zelda smoothed the pleated skirt she had opted to wear that morning and stood up, smothering her dread. She didn't bother closing her laptop or finishing the report she had been working on before she tucked her chair under her desk and made her way towards Ingo's office.

Once she reached his shiny, glass office doors, Zelda wondered whether or not she should knock. He was expecting her, so she really didn't think she needed to ruin the spotless surface of the door with her fingerprints. Plus, there was a rumor going around that anyone who touched Ingo's door would get their fingerprints scanned by the forensic department in order to root out the suspects for punishment. It was extreme, but nobody questioned it. Ingo was over-the-top that way.

In the end, Zelda didn't need to worry about a potential print scan because Ingo viciously threw open the door and ushered her inside his office as soon as she lifted her hand to knock.

"You're late, Harkinian," he growled as the two entered his office.

Zelda glanced at the clock behind his desk, raising a brow. "It's been 4 minutes, Mr. Ingo. You told me to meet you in your office in 5." she said as her boss plopped himself into his big office chair.

"You should've been here in 3, then."

Zelda resisted the urge to roll her eyes; _typical Ingo._

She had only been in Ingo's office a few times, as he mostly came to her desk if he needed anything. It was medium-sized, and sparsely decorated. There were a few surprisingly pretty pictures of farmland in frames with pitchfork decals, along with some bookcases and chairs that looked more like barn stools than brown sitting chairs. She had never asked where he was from, but judging by the country theme she was getting from his office, he probably grew up in out-of-the-ways Kakariko.

Sit," he commanded harshly, gesturing towards the stiff looking chair in front of his desk as he adjusted himself in his far-comfier looking seat.

She quickly obeyed, finding herself fidgeting with the hem of her skirt while Ingo searched for the report Zelda had typed up that morning about the incident. She eyed his pink ensemble, feeling a smile at the corner of her mouth. He was wearing the bubblegum-colored suit that Tatl had complained about, with a neatly ironed green button-up poking out from under his suit jacket. Ingo usually avoided wearing a tie, but today he had a brown bolo tie hanging from his collar. Overall, his outfit would have been on a professional edition of _What Not to Wear._

"Ah, here it is," Ingo said as he whipped out the report from under a stack of papers. His eyes quickly raked over the surface of the paper, leaving Zelda to pull her gaze away from his suit with a new, bitter taste in her mouth that wasn't because of his outfit.

"So, it says here that you apprehended two men in one of the alleyways behind the Emerald Post Office, is that correct?"

Zelda bobbed her head. "Yes, Sir."

Ingo raised a bushy brow. "And you failed to detain _either _of them?"

The bitterness in her mouth worsened as she idly played with her hands, replaying last night's events in her head. "Well the first guy threw a Deku Nut and fled before I could properly arrest him. I had the second guy in handcuffs but he somehow broke out of them and disappeared in a flash of green light about a minute before Officer Barnes came to the scene-"

Ingo threw up a hand, and Zelda immediately silenced. He twisted the corner of his mustache as he flipped to the next page. "Officer Barnes said that you looked rather dazed when he entered the alleyway. Is there any reason for that?"

Zelda furrowed her brows. From the way he said the word 'dazed', it sounded like he was implying something…

"What exactly do you mean by dazed? I just got blinded by some weird bomb_; of course_ I was a little dazed-"

"It was a simple question, Harkinian. No need to get sharp with me."

Zelda nodded slightly, starting to get annoyed. She just wanted to go home and take a long nap instead of suffer through another conversation with Ingo. She really hoped the meeting wouldn't take too long, but her boss was infamous for long meetings.

Ingo's eyes narrowed at the bottom of the page, and he frowned. "You wrote that both men seemed to take quite an interest in the necklace you were wearing. Tell me about this – and _do_ spare me the details."

Zelda was glad that she had made sure her necklace stayed put under her blouse the whole day; she didn't want anyone to see it, especially not Ingo. She could feel the cool metal on her chest as she began to speak. "The first man asked me for the necklace, and the second guy wanted to see it after I told him that Guy A was after it."

Ingo didn't say anything - just nodded - and Zelda watched as the minute hand on Ingo's clocked drop another tick mark.

He closed the report rather quickly and placed it onto his desk. "I don't know what happened last night, Harkinian, but I'm guessing the two guys were just some petty muggers after a young girl's jewelry." He concluded curtly.

Zelda gaped at him, the feeling of annoyance getting replaced by a wave of shock. Had he even r_ead _her report? Ingo was usually so meticulous about reading reports where he could almost recite them by memory, but judging by the way he completely disregarded how urgent Zelda had made her report sound, she guessed he barely glanced over it.

"But, I specifically stated in my report that they _weren't _just some muggers. They never even tried to go after my wallet!" Zelda argued, shocked that he missed the point of her entire report. "I think there's something going on that the police haven't caught onto yet, like a growing crime operation or something, not to mention that hero kid-"

"Look," Ingo interrupted coldly, "You've proved yourself to be a trustworthy employee, and I'd really hate to see such a bright girl get fired for dreaming up something worse than an attempted robbery. We've seen numerous cases like this in the past, and I can promise you that this isn't anything out of the ordinary. Forget about it, Harkinian."

Zelda clenched her jaw stubbornly. "I thought you were supposed to look into this kind of stuff, not just write it off as a young girl's fantasy," she muttered bitterly.

"That's enough, Harkinian," Ingo hissed, his coal-colored eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'm not writing it off as anything; I'm just saying that we have bigger things to worry about than two low-life criminals who have probably already been arrested by someone more capable than you."

The insult stung, but Zelda managed to bite her tongue before any rash comments stumbled out of her mouth. She could feel her cheeks heating up with anger.

Ingo glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I have a meeting with Chief Knight in an hour, and a lot of paperwork to get done before then. I suggest you head out of my office and finish your shift," he said curtly, not bothering to look at her again before he brought his attention back to the papers on his desk.

Zelda nodded mutely, clenching her jaw as she took her cue to get up from Ingo's stiff chair. Her cheeks burned with annoyance, and any sign of her previous exhaustion was thrown out the window as it was replaced with sheer irritation at how little Ingo seemed to care about her report. Zelda knew she wasn't an office favorite, but she would've have thought that Ingo would have _at least _talked to her about what had happened instead of brushing it off.

Zelda was halfway out the door when she called out an irritated, "Thanks for the meeting, Ingo," over her shoulder.

His response seeped through the cracks of his office doors: "_It's__, Mr. Ingo, Harkinian!"_

-xoooOOOooOOOooox-

Zelda sunk cross-legged into the couch, furiously flipping through the channels that their cable service provided the little apartment, with a cup of noodles cooling off in front of her. After her so-called 'meeting' with her boss, Zelda had trudged back to her desk with a vengeance. She was furious that Ingo had told her that she was 'less capable' and she finished twice as many reports than she had meant to. She wanted to prove to him that she was _very _capable, if not more so, than the rest of her coworkers, and she'd be damned if Ingo didn't believe her by the end of the day. Still, she knew she had failed the day before, and that wasn't a blip that she could easily erase.

Now, all she wanted to do was find something good to watch while she ate dinner.

"_Family Feud, TMZ, Judge Judy_…" Zelda muttered the titles bitterly as they came on screen for a moment before she clicked them away. "Is there really nothing on?"

It wasn't late, so Zelda was sure that there had to be _something _good on. She'd even take an old rerun of the _Maury _show – and that was the lowest of the low for her. Zelda hoped that _Who Wants To Be A Millionaire_ would be on, as that was her favorite show, but as she passed Channel 11, she knew her hopes were dashed.

Zelda heard the door to her apartment creak open, and the sound of keys dropping on the kitchen counter. She ignored her roommate at she plopped into the old, green recliner, opting to angrily flip through the movie channels instead.

Malon Peers kicked off her signature cowboy boots and flung them onto the couch Zelda was on with a yawn. "Man, am I beat. Have I ever told you how much I despise Mr. Gorman's lectures?"

Zelda wrinkled her nose, shoving Malon's boot onto the floor. "Only once or twice. The guy can make Macbeth sound as boring as waiting at the DMV," Zelda commented dryly.

Malon nodded sagely. "Never have truer words been spoken."

They both took Mr. Gorman's Advanced British Literature course at Castle Town University, and shared in the mind-numbing lectures that their professor put them through. Malon took the class on Tuesday afternoons while Zelda took it on Wednesday mornings, so Malon always gave the blonde some insight into what she'd be suffering through the next day.

Malon snuggled into the recliner, yawning again as she faced the TV. "Have you ever noticed how much he looks like your boss?"

"Don't mention Ingo," Zelda groaned, sinking further into the shabby couch cushions, dropping the remote onto the couch. She chose to watch the _Wheel of Fortune_. It was better than the sappy Hallmark movies that usually aired around that time of night; she never understood why Malon enjoyed them so much. Anyways, she kind of enjoyed guessing what the words or phrases were.

"Rough day at the office, Bud?" Malon asked sympathetically. "Did Ingo rip up one of your reports again?

Zelda picked up her cup of noodles, jamming her fork into the Styrofoam cup ruthlessly. "No, but he might as well have," she said as she slurped on her noodles.

Malon perked up, lifting her head off of the armrest. Zelda noticed how her roommate looked almost as tired as she felt. Chunks of red hair poked out of Malon's thick ponytail, and she could see small bags under her bright blue eyes. _She must've had a rough night's sleep, too,_ Zelda thought guilty.

When she came home last night and recounted her story, Malon was a mess. She was angry with Zelda for not calling her sooner, and she panicked when she realized that Zelda had gotten stopped by not one but _two _strange men while she was alone. It didn't matter to her that Zelda was a trained police officer – Malon always reasoned that she was still just a teenager. Zelda had to sit on their cold kitchen floor with her for a whole twenty minutes before Malon could calm down enough to go to bed. And that was _without_ telling her about what the man in black had whispered in Zelda's ear before he disappeared.

When Zelda met Malon during her freshman year of high school, the two had immediately bonded over their White-Out complexions. After all, it wasn't everyday that you met someone who was equally as pale as you. Not to mention that the two had managed to skip a grade and were the youngest in their class. It wasn't surprising that the two spent the next four years bonding to the point that when they graduated, they moved into a small apartment in Castle Town together. Zelda had never had anything akin to a sibling; meeting Malon was like a breath of fresh air to her only child life. Now she was the sister that she always wanted, with a kind, boy-crazy, motherly personality that Zelda appreciated completely.

"What happened?" Malon asked curiously, now sitting up straight.

"He just told me to forget about it," Zelda muttered bitterly, twirling the noodles around her fork. "He said that we had 'bigger things to worry about than two-low life criminals' that probably had already been caught by someone more capable than I."

Malon frowned. "Well, we always knew he was an asshole. Did he really just write it off like it was nothing?"

"Yep," Zelda replied, popping the 'p' for emphasis.

Malon settled back into the shabby recliner, sighing with annoyance. "I don't know what to tell you, Zellie. I would tell you to report him, but if he's the Head of Staff there's not really much you could do without going to the head of the police, or getting yourself fired."

"Meh, whatevuh'," Zelda said, her mouth full of noodles. "I'm over it now," she finished, swallowing her food.

"If you say so," Malon yawned. She eyed the lady on screen critically. "Man, Linda isn't very good at this. She's used up almost all her vowels and she still can't figure it out."

"Like you could do better, Mal," Zelda chuckled, gesturing her fork between the TV and the redhead.

Malon threw a throw pillow in Zelda's direction without taking her eyes off the TV. "Oh shut up. Not everybody is a pop-culture nerd like you," Malon grumbled as the pillow bounced off of Zelda's knee harmlessly. "And the answer is 'The New York Times Crossword Puzzle,' so ha."

Zelda set down her half-finished dinner onto their glass coffee table, snapping her fingers dramatically. "Snaps for Malon, everybody."

Malon rolled her eyes. "See, you totally are a nerd. Who snaps for people, anyways?"

Zelda stood up from the couch, throwing the throw pillow back at her roommate's stomach before she wandered into their kitchen that was attached to their quaint living room. She opened the fridge, sticking her head in so she could search for something cold to cool of her tongue from the hot noodles. "Cool cats, that's who. Have you ever been to a poetry slam?"

Malon laughed as she pulled out her ponytail. "Definitely not, but I think Mr. Gorman said that we could get some extra points on the midterm if we went to one. Also, feel free to get me some iced tea while you're in there. I'm parched."

"Although I doubt Mr. Gorman would _ever_ give out extra credit points, I do think you should go to one," Zelda called from the inside of the fridge. She pulled out a can of lemonade and their pitcher of iced tea, placing them both on the counter as she shut the refrigerator door with her foot. She poured Malon a glass before she returned to the couch, handing Malon her cup.

"Thanks Zellie," Malon said as she took a sip. "Damn, we really need to thank Ilia for the recipe. Who knew homemade peach iced tea could be so good."

Zelda nodded in agreement. "The girl's a wizard in the kitchen; she knows all the tricks of the trade."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they watched Linda unsuccessfully guess two more consonants before losing her turn to a promising-looking guy named Tyler. Malon was right when Tyler guessed 'The New York Times Crossword Puzzle' as the answer to the phrase, "What are you doing right now".

Suddenly, Malon bolted upright off the couch, nearly spilling all of her tea onto the floor in the process.

Zelda's eyes widened. "Whoa, Mal, are you okay? I thought we put in new mouse traps on Sunday-"

"_There's a new boy in my Ancient Hylian class_!" She squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

Zelda stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to say, before rolling her eyes as she took a sip of her lemonade. "Goddesses, Malon. I thought you saw another rat in the house," she chuckled. "Were you too wrapped up in Linda's struggles to tell me about this as soon as you walked in?"

"I guess," Malon said, glancing at Linda's dejected face on the TV screen before turning back to Zelda. "I don't know _how_ Linda's troubles became more important than the hottest boy I've ever seen, but they did!"

"Now you're just insulting the poor woman," Zelda defended, frowning at the redhead. "How could Linda be less important than some guy in your class?"

Malon stared at the blonde, wide-eyed. "Oh no, Zelda, you don't understand." She whispered seriously, as if she were telling Zelda of a top-secret mission. "The new guy is like a god-incarnate. I think Professor Shad swooned when he walked in, too."

Zelda arched a brow shrewdly, feeling a little offended that Malon would lower her favorite professor to that shameless level. Professor Shad was much more respectable than that, and Zelda would always vouch for his good character - not because she had a minor crush on him, or anything. He was just very knowledgeable on the subject, and Zelda appreciated his intellect above all else.

"Oh come on. Professor Shad has more decency than the rest of us college girls. There's no w_ay _he would swoon for a student," she responded coolly, more for herself than to anyone.

Malon shook her copper-colored head."You obviously haven't seen Link Fontaine then."

"Maybe that's because I focus on my studies instead of drooling over some boy?" Zelda suggested casually, throwing a blanket across her lap. The heating in their small apartment didn't always work, and it had been an uncharacteristically cold August. Her grey sweatpants and sweatshirt could only do so much for her. "Plus, I only had one class today before I had work, so my chances of seeing him today were shockingly low."

"Whatever, Zellie," Malon sighed as she sunk back into the recliner. She threw her legs over the armrest and adjusting her upper body so that she lay horizontally on the couch, stretching her limbs like a cat before she got comfortable again. Zelda always told her not to lay like that because it made her back hurt, so she made note to say 'I told you so' when Malon got up later with a stiff back. "Just because you have this whole 'boys are beneath me and all my smartness' doesn't mean a boy can't be sexy as sin."

"That may be, but my whole 'boys are beneath me and all my smartness' outlook on life has served me well so far," Zelda shrugging. "Tell me about him, then. I'd hate to be unprepared without an arsenal of witty comebacks if I ever meet him."

Malon ignored Zelda's sarcasm, instead jumping right into the new guy's physical description. "He's blonde, but not like your blonde. It's not as light as yours – it's more honey-colored. And he's got blue eyes that put ours to shame," she gushed.

Zelda rubbed her eyes absentmindedly as she watched Pat Sajak announce the next phrase that the contestant would be guessing. She liked to think that she never really liked the color of her eyes. They were a light blue, almost grey on some days, and were so unlike the oceanic colored eyes that her roommate had.

She really wished her eyes were green, or even a light brown. She ran her hand down her face, stopping to trace the cut on her cheek from the Deku Nut's shell. It had healed considerably overnight, but Zelda was sure it would leave a small scar when it had completely stitched itself up. Zelda still had the man's handkerchief, too. It was tucked into one of her drawers for safe-keeping.

"That good?" Zelda asked, frowning slightly, dropping her hand to her lap.

"That good," Malon repeated. "He's tall and muscle-y too. But not the gross steroid kind of muscle-y. He must work out a lot though."

"I thought it was on the inside that counted," Zelda replied innocently.

"Maybe so, but everybody's got eyes, and when a fine piece of Hylian wanders into your lecture hall looking like a god, you can't blame yourself for using them," Malon commented sagely. "And oh goddesses, that's without mentioning _his smile._" She threw a hand on her forehead, leaning over the side of the armrest to swoon dramatically. "You could make world peace with that kind of smile."

Zelda shook her head, laughing; good ol', boy-crazy Malon. "Must be one hell-of-a smile," she whistled.

"You have no idea." Malon sighed dreamily.

For some reason, Zelda thought back to the man in the green. She had thought he had a pretty nice smile too. Zelda half-wondered if she would swoon over his smile like Malon was doing, too. _Definitely not, _Zelda thought dryly. Her friends had always praised her for keeping calm around the male species, and there was no way some boy was going to change that for her.

"Well, I look forward to seeing him." Zelda returned.

"Good, you should. Maybe he'll change your hermit ways," Malon grinned, eyes sparkling mischievously.

Zelda rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day, giggling. "We'll see, Mal. Did I tell you I met the Chief and Director of the entire Hyrulian Law Enforcement system?" Zelda said, casually changing the subject.

Sobering from her boy-talk high, Malon snuggled into the recliner with her eyes back to the TV. "Nope. Is she as scary as she is in interviews?"

Zelda smiled slightly. "No, actually. She was pretty nice. A lot nicer than I thought she'd be. I think she liked me, too."

"Maybe she'll give you a raise and you could be Ingo's boss? Ha! Wouldn't that be funny?"

"It would be," Zelda chuckled.

After that, Zelda watched the rest of _Wheel of Fortune _by herself after Malon retreated to her room to go to bed.

Zelda forgot to say "I told you so" when Malon complained about her back hurting the moment she stood up from the couch.

* * *

Author's Note: First things first; I don't think you people understand how hard it was for me to right this. When I said Chapter 2 was being edited, I lied. I had like 2 paragraphs already written. So, instead of sitting myself down to finish it, I decided that I had to vacuum, wash my sheets, polish the furniture, clean my bathroom, stalk people on Tumblr, and then do my hair (?) before I could actually write anything. It's a blessing and a curse to clean when you procrastinate.

Thank you to all my wonderful reviews/reviewers. I was so terrified to read any of what you guys had to say that I completely avoided this website until like an hour ago. But y'all are so lovely and so nice. I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I had trouble writing it!

-callmeordinary

(Sorry my author's notes are so long. I'm sure none of you care about my procrastination, but I thought you should know. Anyone who tells you it's easy to write is a dirty, dirty liar.)


	4. Chapter 3: Here Comes Trouble

Oh my. It's been a month since I last updated! Sorry guys. I am trash. :c

Anyways, thank you for everyone who has given this story a chance. My grammar's actually atrocious. Those of you who stick it out and read through my lengthy, poorly-written paragraphs deserve a prize. Seriously. Y'all are too great.

Disclaimer: Do I even need this? I own nothing.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Here Comes Trouble**

Sunlight streamed in through her curtains, landing in warm, delicate beams across her bed. A lawnmower hummed outside her window, along with the sound of the cars that rushed by the apartment building as people made their way towards wherever they needed to be on a Thursday morning. It was all very peaceful; Zelda wanted nothing more than to fall back into her pillow, squeeze her eyes shut, and bury her head under her duvet. But she forced herself to sit up from her nest of blankets.

If she was up, she might as well _be_ up.

She stifled a yawn as she rolled herself out of bed, pausing a moment to crack her back before shuffling towards the kitchen. Her eyes felt gritty with sleep, and Zelda absently rubbed them with the back of her hand as she made herself a cup of coffee.

Ingo had been mad at her for three days. Well, at least she thought he had been mad at her – he hadn't said a word to her since their meeting. He did, however, nearly double the amount of cases she had to look over without any sort of warning. It didn't bother her too much. She preferred the extra work over another one of his rants, but it also meant going overtime more often. Needless to say, her sleep schedule suffered greatly because of it.

Zelda sat at one of the kitchen stools with her mug cradled in her hands, tracing the rim with a finger as it cooled. When she was younger, she had always insisted that she wasn't going to be a coffee drinker. She never wanted to be an adult, and in her 10 year old mind, drinking coffee meant you weren't a kid anymore. Now, Zelda needed nearly two cups before she was even functional.

Malon padded into the kitchen a few minutes later, blindly reaching into the cupboards for a mug of her own. Her auburn hair had a large cow-lick on the back of her head. Zelda looked at the faded Castle Town High t-shirt her roommate was wearing. The blue words, "Home of the Knights!" were starting to peel off the front.

She plopped herself next to Zelda, stifling a yawn. "I didn't hear you come home last night."

Zelda blew on her coffee. "I got off late."

Malon nodded groggily, as if understanding.

She took a sip, relishing the taste of the rich, oily roast as it burned her tongue. Malon's father had sent them a small tin of coffee after he went on vacation to Death Mountain, telling them that it was from a little shop near the base of the city. Zelda liked the tin a lot, with its bright red color, and the coffee even more so. It had a fiery (no pun intended) kick to it that no other coffee brand could manage. She told Malon to ask her doting father to send them another one before they ran out. She was sure that if roommate asked, a sparkling ruby tin would be on their doorstep the next day with a box of warm quilts from the ranch next to it. Her father was like that - always willing to send extra.

Malon rubbed her back absently, frowning. She must've fallen asleep on the couch again. "Work today?"

Zelda put her cup on the counter, dropping her head to her lap with a defeated groan. "My shift starts at 4, and I go 'till 9. Maybe later. I might go overtime again today."

Malon slapped a hand on her shoulder, patting her back as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Ah. That's my little worker bee."

"I wouldn't have to work so much if you didn't waste all our money," Zelda pointed out, her voice scratchy with grogginess. "Maybe you should get a job, too."

Malon pulled her hand back, shrugging. They've had this argument numerous times since they moved in together, but Malon kept her unemployed status anyways. "Poverty makes us humble."

The blonde gave her a sideways glance. "It also increases our chances of living on the street."

"Would being homeless be that bad?"

"Yes. You love air conditioning too much, and I don't think that I have the upper arm strength to push around a shopping cart all day," Zelda said.

Malon nodded again, this time in bemused agreement. "How you got through boot camp is beyond me."

Zelda leaned back in her chair sleepily, pointing two L-shaped hands at the redhead as she pretends to shoot her. "You don't need muscle when you've got THESE guns."

Malon snickered as Zelda blew on the tip of her forefingers and pretends to put them back in their holster in a gunslinger fashion.

"Goddesses, you are such a nerd," she sighed. Malon patted her roommate's knee before she slid off her seat to put her empty mug in the sink. The redhead yawned again, glancing at the neon clock on the microwave before turning on the faucet. "You best get to class, Zellie. It's almost 8."

Zelda glanced to her open bedroom. She can see her comforter on the floor, along with the grey sweater and black jeans she was going to wear beside it next to the dresser. Her eyes are drawn to her nightstand, where they linger on the bottom drawer, and it takes her a moment before she returns back to her cup.

She slipped out of the chair, cradling her finished mug as she pads towards the sink. Malon took her cup before Zelda turned away to make her way to her room to get ready.

"Oh, and I think Ilia and the gang said something about coming over tomorrow," Malon said, her voice carrying over the sound of dishes clinking as she rinsed them.

"You mean our posse?" Zelda called from her bedroom. Her voice isn't loud, but Malon hears her.

"That's right, Sheriff. Karane and Midna wanted to go out, but Ilia said she'd make dinner."

Zelda grins to herself, her mouth watering slightly from the thought of their friend's cooking as she throws her duvet back onto the bed. "Do you think I'm more of a Jesse James or a Belle Star kind of gal?"

She can practically hear Malon shake her head as she sighed loudly. "I never should have let you watch those old Western movies the last time we visited my dad."

"Aw, come on. It really helped set the mood for the ranch."

"If you're making fun of my dad's décor, you best remember who helps pay for our rent."

Zelda made a mental note to send her dad a thank you card; their bills were mysteriously paid off yesterday. She always felt guilty when Talon helped them out with their money problems, and she wanted to prove that she could take care of them without him. "And you best remember to tell him he doesn't need to do that for us. I make enough."

"Don't complain about my shopping if you make enough," Malon sings.

Zelda groaned loudly, more out of annoyance that Malon was right than because of a bad mood. She blows a chunk of hair out of her face as steps into to the dimly lit bathroom that connected her and Malon's rooms together to wash her face. After she wipes away the water, she swipes on a few coats of mascara and dabs the whitest shade of concealer MaloMart had under her eyes. Zelda put a few spritzes of Malon's detangling spray onto her head, and combed out her nightmarish hair until it fell down her shoulders in long, golden tresses. While she had somehow managed to save her hair from looking like a blonde nest, she didn't know how to help the rest of her. She shrugs as she exits, and closes the door behind her so that Malon can shower.

_It's not like I'm trying to impress anybody, _she reasons.

The blonde gets dressed quickly, and she found herself staring at her nightstand again as she looped on a belt. Zelda glanced at the bathroom door and waited until she can hear her roommate turn on the shower.

Zelda squatted down and carefully slid the drawer open. The handkerchief from the man in green is under a stack of papers, hidden from her nosy roommate. She gingerly tugged it out from its hiding place, and examined it in the morning light. The deep emerald tint of the handkerchief shines in the sun, and Zelda can see a small dark stain that she morbidly assumes is the dried remains of her blood. It had been nearly five days since that night, and she still hasn't washed it. But then again, why would she? She didn't think he was coming back for it. The only one who said he'd see her again was the other guy.

She looked around her room at the memory of the words whispered into her ear.

Zelda stood up, holding the cloth in her hand. Her necklace jingled in response.

She doesn't think anything of it as she slips the piece of silk into her back pocket as she exits her room, grabbing her coat and jacket on the way out, calling a _"See ya, Mal!" _over her shoulder.

xoooOOOoooOOOooox

Try as she may, Zelda couldn't focus on a single word of professor Garrickson's speech. He was passionate about anything that he spoke about, and oftentimes he made it easy for her to be drawn into his words. He made her _want _to learn. But today, Zelda felt no such pull on her mind to find the will to absorb anything that he was saying.

Speaking of which, what _was_ he saying?

Zelda rubbed her eyes, Forty-five minutes into her Hylian Classics course, a mousy girl in the front row interrupted Garrickson's lesson on transportation on Windfall Island. Her voice was small as she asked him what the dates were for the creation for the shipbuilding industry on the island began, but as soon as she said the word "dates", their professor launched into a rant about his love life.

Or lack thereof.

"Kids today just don't understand the value of creating a deep, meaningful relationship with one another. But then again, neither did Luanne, my first girlfriend."

Zelda sighed. She had hoped that today's lecture would be more interesting. Not to say that the woes of the ever-single professor weren't made for a bad soap opera, but Zelda always left those to her redheaded roommate to enjoy.

Zelda could practically _feel _her brain cells commit suicide so they wouldn't have to hear anything as Garrickson launched into a sub-branch of his rant, now filling the lecture hall with "reasons why you should never trust a blonde with brown eyes."

Her eyelids felt like somebody had put two little weights on them. She was starting to regret waking up early that morning. Maybe that extra 15 minutes of sleep wouldn't have made the wooden surface of her desk seem so enticing.

Zelda put her head down, nestling her nose against her sleeve with a content sigh. She would never get away with sleeping in professor Gorman's class. He could smell disappointment and a lack of motivation from a mile away. But Garrickson had no such talent. A few minutes wouldn't be too bad, right? Just a quick nap…

Something bounced off the side of her desk, but Zelda ignored it. Her eyes were too heavy. She didn't want to open them up just yet. Two more things bounced harmlessly off her desk, but it was the third time that something actually hit her, jarring her awake.

Blinking, Zelda slapped a hand behind her head and found a pencil tangled in her hair. She begrudgingly pulled it out and turned around, searching for the culprit.

She found him – his arm hovering in the air to throw another mechanical pencil at her head –and shot him and his snickering friends a glare.

Zelda aimed the pencil at the brunette's head, and threw it. She turned back in her seat before she could see if she had hit her mark, but judging by the chorus of laughs behind her, the pencil had done its job.

Feeling irritated, Zelda focused her eyes ahead and glared at the board. So much for a quick nap.

Of course Brian and his lackeys had to ruin it for her. She should have known it was him. Ever since she refused to give him her notes on the day before the final last semester, he had a personal vendetta against her. She wished she had kept the pencil, though. Her own was almost out of lead.

Zelda tried to focus on the rest of the lecture, but she found herself practicing her "y's" for the remaining 15 minutes of class.

She stood up, gathering her books together. She could feel the sweet freedom of leaving professor Garrickson behind as she raced out of the room.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she tucked her books back into her bag. As she did so, her phone dropped out of its designated pocket and clattered to the floor.

"I swear to Nayru if you're cracked…" she muttered dangerously as she bent down. She flipped the clunky old thing in her hands, relieved to find the glass screen void of any missing chunks of glass. But then again, if it had cracked, she'd finally be able to replace it with something that didn't remind her of the flip phone she had in middle school.

She pulled herself back up, sweeping her bangs behind her ears as she wandered towards the clock a few feet away. If she went to her lecture hall now, she'd probably be first. She really didn't feel like sitting in silence with only her professor. Nobody liked that. But maybe she could slink in through a side door and quietly find a seat without professor Medli noticing. Or maybe she could go into the bathroom and try to find a way to pin that one chunk of hair behind her ear, or maybe-

"Oi, Harkinian. Looks like you dropped something."

Zelda whipped around, immediately locking onto the malicious smirk of his lackeys to the small, dark cloth that Brian dangled between his fingers.

Her eyes widened. The handkerchief! It must have slipped out of her pocket somehow when she went to pick up her phone. She had even forgotten that it was there in the first place.

Zelda frowned: "Give it back."

Brian waved the handkerchief in the air. "What even is this? Some kind of napkin?"

"It's a handkerchief, dumbass. Now give it back." Zelda hadn't meant to call him a dumbass, but it didn't come out too bad when she said it. Midna's ability to insult someone right off the bat was starting to rub off on her.

Brian's eyes narrowed. His two subordinates gave each other a look of anticipation. "And why should I, itty bitty Harkinian?" he hissed.

"Because it's _mine_ and it's important."

Brian's eyes suddenly lit up. Crap. She shouldn't have said that. Saying it was important was like painting a bright red X on the damn thing.

"If it's so important, why don't you come and get it from me," he grinned. He waved the little piece of cloth in front of her like a matador.

Zelda's frown deepened. "What are you, 5? I'm not going to chase you for it. You have Thing 1 and Thing 2 with you to follow you around already. Just give it back."

This made them mad, and she regretted saying anything in the first place. She should have just let him keep the damned thing. But she felt protective of it; it was given to her, so therefore it was hers.

Brian and his lackeys stalked over to her, each with a menacing glint in their eyes. She kept her chin up; she wasn't going to let a few angry 19 year olds bully her. She suffered enough abuse from her boss. She could handle a lanky leader and his two large friends easily.

The three boxed her in, with two on each side of her and Brian himself standing before her. He bobbed the cloth over her head. "If you want it so badly, just take it," he growled.

Feeling more than irritated, Zelda's hand shot up into the air and grabbed the stupid little thing before Brian had the chance to lift it out of reach. Standing at a measly 5 foot nothing, Zelda had dealt with her fair share of tall kids who used her vertically-challenged stature against her. She slipped the handkerchief back into her pocket before it could get her into any more trouble. She felt a trickle of satisfaction as Brian and his friend's gaped at her in surprise, but it dissipated as their shock was replaced with downright fury.

She made a move to turn around, but Brian grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back around.

"Now where do you think you're going, Harkinian? I don't know how you did that, but I'm not letting you get out of here so easily."

Zelda swatted his hand off her shoulder. "I'm going to be late." She said tightly.

She turned around again, but this time Brian's insubordinates had moved to block her path. What was this? Were the Goddesses trying to mess with her by giving her three classic bullies to deal with? If that was the case, it so wasn't funny.

Zelda flipped back around, ignoring that she had to be on her tip-toes to give willowy Brian a proper glare.

"Look, I've had enough of you, Harkinian. You're really starting to get on my nerves."

"You and me both, sister," Zelda muttered.

Brian took a menacing step forward, lifting his fist into the air. "I think it's time you learned your place."

Was he serious? He was going to hit her?

His friends closed in behind her, each grabbed one of her shoulders to keep her in place.

Zelda was never the athletic type, and she wasn't permitted to carry her pistol onto school grounds; the odds of her fighting her way out were slim to none. She debated on whether or not it was worth it to let him actually hit her, and whether or not she could actually worm her way out of Thing 1 and Thing 2's iron grip. If a lack of sleep made her look like she had a black eye, she couldn't bear to think about what an _actual _black eye would look like on her pasty skin.

Brian's fist was poised perfectly in the air, and Zelda braced for impact.

Just as he was about to crash his knuckles into her cheek, a voice rang out: "Didn't your parents ever tell you that it's not nice to hit a girl?"

Zelda opened her eyes, looking past Brian's rat-like face and skeleton fist at the flaxen-haired boy behind him.

The Goddesses were playing with her. She was sure of it; _friggin' Link Fontaine._

The boy in question proceeded towards her party of 4 with his hands in his pockets. A small frown graced his faced, and Zelda prayed that no one around her could tell that her cheeks were rosier than they should have been.

Of course it was Link Fontaine. _Of-friggin'-course._

She had entered the university that morning to find the whole place buzzing with rumors about the new guy. As she pushed through the thickets of people, Zelda soaked in everything she heard about the infamous Link Fontaine. They all seemed to support three main things; he got kicked out of three previous schools for fighting, he could get any girl he wanted, and his family life was something that should never be mentioned. She had yet to see him up close, thanks to the hoards of fans that created a wall around him every time he walked down the hallways, but she knew enough to make a picture of him. He was, after all, Malon's favorite topic of discussion. It would be insulting to her roommate if she _didn't _have a general idea of the new kid's looks.

Still, Zelda honestly couldn't understand what was so great about the new guy. From what she heard, she couldn't find any personality traits that would make him seem vaguely interesting. Sure, he was a pretty face, but what good was a stellar bone structure if what you have underneath it is crap?

As he walked up, Zelda fought herself from looking at his ripped jeans, black V-neck, and battered combat boots that practically screamed 'I'm that boy in books who skips class to smoke behind the school and can look hot doing it.' She looked at his perfectly messy hair, which instantly made her think he rolled out of some girl's bed that morning.

He was every bit as perfect as a university heartthrob should be, she decided. But she wasn't into that whole "on-purpose but not" sexy look. Or at least she thought she wasn't. Her cheeks were saying otherwise.

"What the hell do you want, Fontaine?" Brian challenged, dropping his fist.

Zelda felt a little impressed; only Brian had the stupidity to be unafraid of someone that had the reputation of being someone that you shouldn't mess with.

Link stopped a few feet away, crossing his arms. "I want to know why you thought it would be okay to use Harkinian here as a punching bag."

Brian's lackeys looked nervous. They had let go of her shoulders, and Zelda readjusted the straps of her bag.

Brian shrugged. "She was throwing things at me, so I thought I'd scare her a little. I would never _actually _her."

Zelda glared at him. "Oh shut up, you threw a pencil at me first_-"_

Link raised a brow at her, but turned his attention back to Brian and his gang. "Is that true?"

Brian blinked, looking around for an exit. "Well yeah, but-"

"I think you've done enough today, Lyznansky. I suggest you leave you before class starts. Unless you have any more innocent girls to terrorize today," he added, looking at Brian incriminatingly. "Do you? I wouldn't be surprised, what with your record."

To Zelda's surprise, Brian looked ashamed of himself. "Whatever, Fontaine," he mumbled angrily. "Come on guys. Let's get outta here. Itty bitty Harkinian's boring, anyways."

Brian and his two thugs stalked out of the hallway with their shoulders hunched, but not before Brian rammed his shoulder into Zelda's, sufficiently knocking her down.

She landed on her butt with a thud, bruising both her tailbone and her pride. "Well screw you too, asshole!" she shouted after him. She wasn't surprised to see Brian flipping her off as her disappeared behind a corner.

Fuming and embarrassed, Zelda moved to pick up her bag from the floor but found that it wasn't there. Her eyes flickered upwards. She felt a vague feeling of déjà vu when she saw Link's hand in front of her to help her up. She saw that he held her bag in the other.

Zelda chose to ignore his hand, opting to scramble to her feet on her own. She gingerly took her bag back from the boy in front of her and looped it over her shoulders.

"Uh, thanks," she said awkwardly. She tried not to appear like she was gawking at him, but it was hard not to. He had eyes that were so Windex blue that they didn't look real. They reminded her of sapphires.

Link shrugged. "Anytime, Harkinian. Just doing my job."

Zelda stared at him shrewdly, arching a brow. "Which is what? Saving damsels in distress?"

He chuckled. "Something like that."

"Wouldn't your fan club like to know," Zelda muttered. She hadn't meant for that to slip out. She really hoped he hadn't heard it.

Her hopes were dashed as Link smiled. "I'm sure they would. Who wouldn't want to hear about some good ol' fashioned chivalry?"

Zelda looked at him pointedly. "I don't know if publicly shaming a guy would necessarily be classified as 'chivalrous'."

He tilted his head – a gesture that she fought herself from describing it as 'cute'- and bent towards her. "Did you think it was chivalrous?"

Zelda looked down at his boots. She had to look _anywhere_ but the playboy in front of her. "Honestly? No. You can get your point across without making someone feel bad about themselves. It's counterintuitive."

Link crossed his arms again, considering her. "Huh."

Zelda looked up, carefully ignoring his hypnotic gaze to see the amusement on his face. "Huh what?"

"I didn't expect you to be vouching for Lyznansky, especially after he almost beat you into a pulp."

"Yeah, well. It was never going to get that far," she said dryly.

"Is that so? Bit-sized Harkinian doesn't seem to pose much of a threat."

She didn't like being made fun of, especially not by the boy who could put Prince Charming to shame. "Well bit-sized Harkinian isn't some helpless little girl who is going to let herself be stepped all over by assholes like Brian. So don't think you did me any favors by helping me out back there."

"And if I asked for any favors?" he asked, giving her a slightly suggestive smile.

Zelda blinked in surprise. He wasn't flirting with her… was he?

She didn't think she was anything special. Not that she was hideous, or anything. But she knew there were plenty of other girls around campus who had her beat when it came to being pretty. The most she could be described with was "cute". She was small, standing at a wimpy 5-foot-nothing, with curves that could rival a 12 year old boy, and skin the color of White-Out. She didn't even want to talk about bra shopping; a 32 A-Cup simply does not exist in any other place but the little girl's section. Zelda didn't think that she warranted this kind of attention, especially not from someone like Link Fontaine. Plus, why would he even flirt with her? He had hoards of fan girls who would be a much easier lay than herself.

_But then again_, she thought as her gaze flickered to fine piece of Hylian in front of her, _guys like him like a challenge._

"Just… don't tell anybody about this, okay?" she said before carefully sidestepping him before she had the chance to find out whether or not he was actually flirting with her.

She made it to her Ancient Hylian lecture early without even looking back.

xoooOOOoooOOOooox

As soon as she got home, Zelda dropped her bags and flopped onto the couch with a loud sigh. She kicked off her shoes, letting her feet be free of their black-booted prison after a long day of work and school.

After her run in with Link Fontaine, Zelda felt on edge the rest of the day. Not because she was afraid of seeing him again; she just didn't know what their meeting had meant. Zelda thought about it during her entire Ancient Hylian lecture. She decided that it was a chance meeting, and she'd probably, no, _hopefully_ never have to deal with Link Fontaine's perfect face again.

She dreaded telling Malon. Her roommate would launch into an interrogation of sorts, and Zelda didn't want to hear anything more than the quiet hum of their dishwasher at the moment.

Zelda flipped onto her stomach and nestled her face into their shabby little couch. It was the first thing they had bought when they moved in to their apartment. The two had gone to nearly every furniture store in Castle Town, and Goselle's was the last place they went into as they needed furniture badly, and everywhere else was too expensive.

The two inquired about the deep green couch to the shopkeeper, a haughty lady named Goselle, who then insisted that the couch was an antique that was worth more than it actually looked. After arguing with her for nearly 20 minutes, Malon finally got frustrated and shoved a handful of rupees into the woman's hands, saying "if it's worth that much I better find a bloody diamond in cushion."

They never did find any diamonds in the cushions, but they did find a pretty jeweled clip that Malon liked to pin in her hair.

Zelda thought she heard her phone ring, so she reached into her back pocket for it. Her fingers touched something soft, and she remembered that it was the handkerchief, and not her phone. She hardly ever put her phone in her pocket, anyways. She didn't know why she had even bothered to check there when it was probably in her purse.

Zelda tugged the little piece of cloth out, bringing it to her face so she could look at it.

The dark spot from her blood was still visible, but it was only a few shades darker than the deep emerald satin of the handkerchief. She hadn't noticed it until now, but there was a set of initials on the bottom left corner.

The letter's M.O.F. were elegantly looped together in black letters. Zelda ran her fingertips over the initials with a frown.

"M.O.F…" she mutters. Were these the so-called Hero's initials? They must be, if they're on his handkerchief. But what could the letters stand for?

Matthew Octavius Fletcher? Martin Omar Fairway? Zelda tossed the handkerchief over the side of the couch. Well, whoever it was got her into trouble today. If it hadn't been for M.O.F., she wouldn't have been stopped by Brian Lyznansky and his gang, or Link Fontaine.

Zelda stood up from the couch, stretching her limbs like a cat. She remembered that she had originally been looking for her phone. Zelda wandered into the kitchen to where her purse was on the counter, searching its pockets until she found her clunky old phone.

_**Won't b home till late. Saria's car broke down**_

Zelda stared at the screen for a moment before she punched in a reply.

_**We told her the car was crap. Alright. Be safe**_

Zelda put her phone down and sighed. She could successfully avoid telling Malon about her meeting, at least until morning. The downside to this was that their apartment felt painfully lonely with only one person there. They weren't allowed to have any pets, and they weren't really friends with any of their neighbors. They got along well with Dampé, but he was only fun to talk to if you wanted to discuss Bingo or the proper burial technique.

Zelda decided to make herself a cup of tea, and maybe read for a little while until she went to bed. She pulled out a chipped mug from a cabinet, filled it with water, and put it in the microwave to warm up. Once the water was ready, Zelda dropped the tea bag into the mug and settled back into the couch where she was going to read her book for a little bit.

But, as soon as she down with her mug in her hands, Zelda felt extremely hot. Maybe it was the steaming tea, or the long-sleeved tee she was wearing. Or maybe it was the heating in the apartment. Either way, Zelda would rather be cold than be hot.

She got up and padded over to their fire escape, cracking the big window open to let in some air.

The night was cool, but not too cold. As soon as she had opened the window, a cool breeze filtered into the house and across Zelda's warm cheeks.

She opened the window an inch more before she settled back into the couch and opened her book.

As soon as she could, 4-year-old Zelda vowed to read every book that she could get her hands on. The bookcase in her room was filled with books, from fairy tales to textbooks to manuals. It didn't matter what it was; Zelda wanted to read it. She loved the smell of books, the way the paper felt between her fingers as she flipped the page, and she especially loved the sound books made when you cracked their spines.

She was reading a dog-eared copy of her favorite fairy tale, the same one that she had probably read a million times, holding her steeping mug of tea in her lap. She held her breath with fear as she read the part where the princess – simply referred to as "Princess" – gets whisked away to a tower by a jealous Lord who wants to keep her and her crown for himself.

The Princess is beautiful, as all princesses tend to be, which is why the Lord wants to marry her. But alas, he is not her true love. She's in love with one of the guards at the Castle, and she defiantly shoots down every one of the Lord's advances.

Zelda loved the book because it was a true story, but it was also a fairy tale. The Princess, the Lord, and the Hero really did exist, but there's magic and love in this story that isn't in the history books. In the book, the Lord is a wizard-slash-wannabe-king, who kidnaps the Princess in order to take her crown, and the Hero goes on a wonderful adventure where he fights against magic creatures just to rescue his true love.

In the history books, the Princess of Destiny doesn't fall in love. She either becomes Queen because of a forced marriage, or she dies as a single princess. The Hero of the God's is just the Captain of the Royal Guard, never anything more. There is no proof that the Hero and the Princess were a couple. And as for the Lord? Well, he's just another suitor who couldn't stand the rejection of the beautiful princess and decided that if he would rather die than live without her.

And there is no magic in the history books, either. There are no spells, no golden arrows, and certainly no Goddess-forged swords. That's probably why she loved the book so much. It tells the story with hope of love, and hope for adventure. And it tells a story of magic.

Zelda never made it to the part where the Hero rescues the Princess, because at some point, she fell asleep and was abruptly woken up by knocking on the door.

"What the-" Zelda squeaked, unceremoniously tumbling off the couch onto the floor. "Oh for Nayru's sake- _hold on I'm coming!_"

Zelda popped up of the floor and rubbed her eyes at a vain attempt at seeing the world through a clearer haze.

She stumbled towards the front door and looked out the peephole: nothing.

"What? But I thought I heard-"

Another knock, but over by the fire escape. Zelda froze.

Surely she must have misheard-

_Knock._

Zelda sucked in a breath, looking at the clock. _11:47._

_Knock._

Malon still wasn't home. Her jacket would have been on the coat rack. But that was good. She didn't want Malon to get hurt if something happened.

Zelda slunk into the kitchen as she tried to devise a plan of attack. She didn't want to use her pistol. It would scare the neighbors if she had to shoot it. She wandered over to their cutlery drawer, and pulled out the biggest steak knife she could find.

"There's nothing that makes you feel safer than holding a big ass knife," Zelda muttered. With her weapon in hand, she inched her way over to the fire escape. Her heart hammered in her chest; what if it was the man in black? What if he was finally here? What if-

"Boo."

Zelda screamed as she swiveled around, swinging her knife in front of her blindly.

"Woah, woah woah! Calm down!" the man in green said, grabbing her wrist as before she impaled him. "Hey! It's okay!"

Zelda's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "What the-?" She snatched her hand back, brandishing the steak knife in front of her. "Are you _insane?_ What the _hell _are you doing here!"

The man in green held his hands up in surrender. "It's okay. Just calm down. I came back to get my handkerchief, that's all."

"Calm down? You want me to _calm down?_ You just broke into my house!" she shrieked.

The man in green frowned. "I knocked first-"

"You knocked on the friggin' _fire escape window. _Why couldn't you use the front door like a regular person!"

"Poor lapse of judgment," he commented stiffly, staring at the knife in her hands.

"Isn't that the understatement of the century?" Zelda laughed dryly, dropping her weapon onto the counter loudly. She didn't think that the man in green had any malicious intentions. Still, she would keep her guard up.

The man in green let out a sigh of relief. "Hey, don't get sassy with me. No superhero comes in through the door. Have you ever heard of Dick Grayson ringing someone's doorbell?"

Zelda folded her arms across her chest. "I don't see you in a spandex suit, so I can't view you on the same pedestal as Nightwing."

The corner of the man's lips perked up in a smirk. "Would you prefer me in a skin-tight suit? I'd be happy to oblige," He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Douche." Zelda rolled her eyes, stomping out of the kitchen to where she knew she had dropped the handkerchief to the floor. She picked it up and thrust the damned thing in front of him. "Here's your stupid handkerchief. Can you please just take it and leave?"

The man plucked it from her fingertips and slipped it into his pocket. He observed her for a moment in the dull kitchen lights, leaning towards her. "You really don't like me, do you?"

"You broke into my house; of course I don't like you." Zelda grumbled, taking a step back. He was too close for her liking. "The door's over there if you want to use it this time Hero Boy."

"Call me Hunter."

Zelda arched a brow, unimpressed. "Is that your superhero name?"

Hunter shined his nails on his shoulder, even though he was wearing gloves. "Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Catchy, and memorable."

The blonde looked at him critically. The name was catchy, but she didn't quite see the connection between his name and what he stood for. Hunters wore all green, right? "I'm still going to call you Hero Boy," Zelda said dryly.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Sheriff," he said, sending a flirtatious wink her way.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Get outta here before I arrest you. Again." She added in the last part bitterly.

Hunter gave her a mock salute, pushing himself off her kitchen counter. He proceeded towards the fire escape window. "Until next time, dear Sheriff," he called, disappearing into the night.

Zelda waited in the kitchen until he left before she wandered over to the window to close it.

The city was dim with light, from glowing signs on the buildings to the flickering streetlights below. Few cars whizzed by, and the streets appeared empty. Above it all, the moon shone proudly, as if to say "look at my city, look at how beautiful it is."

She couldn't see where Hunter had gone. There was no sign that he had ever entered her apartment, either. He got his handkerchief back. Maybe she'd never see Hunter again.

Zelda heard a pair of keys drop onto the counter. "I'm home!"

The blonde gave the stars one last look at the stars, suddenly struck by a terrifying idea: if Hunter knew where she lived, then who else did?

* * *

A/N: So there you go. I'm not really sure if I like the way I wrote this, but oh well. It'll do for now. I'm also not too sure if I like Hunter as a hero name. But maybe it'll grow on me.

Anywaaaays, I hope you guys liked it! And if not, let me know what I can do better! :D

Also I added a little picture thing for the story. It's blue. Weird. I wonder why.

-callmeordinary

P.S. I don't own the picture either, and I give all rights to the artist. They did an amazing job and they deserve a ton of credit for it. Dear, woodland-mel on deviantart, you are a star.


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